1. Infection and interferon production in systemic juvenile chronic arthritis: a prospective study.
- Author
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de Vere-Tyndall A, Bacon T, Parry R, Tyrrell DA, Denman AM, and Ansell BM
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Antibodies, Bacterial analysis, Antibodies, Viral analysis, Arthritis, Juvenile immunology, Arthritis, Juvenile metabolism, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Infant, Male, Pneumonia, Mycoplasma complications, Prospective Studies, Virus Diseases complications, Arthritis, Juvenile complications, Bacterial Infections complications, Infections complications, Interferons biosynthesis
- Abstract
Twenty-four episodes of disease exacerbation in 19 children suffering from systemic juvenile chronic arthritis were studied. Sixteen of these were preceded by an infection (chi 2 = 20.14, p less than 0.001), mostly of the upper respiratory tract. In the 10 cases seen during an infection causative agents were identified in 5 (herpes simplex, rhinovirus, and on 3 occasions streptococcus). The total number of infections was not increased when compared with infection rates predicted by several reported studies. In the absence of clinical infection, specific antibody titres to a panel of microbial antigens were similar to those of a control group but with a trend toward higher titres in patients with hypergammaglobulinaemia. Interferon (IFN) responses were not defective, though sequential in-vitro IFN production from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) fluctuated considerably in the same patients, occasionally being absent with no obvious clinical correlate. IFN-alpha was induced by stimulation with Newcastle disease virus (NDV), and the mean responses of the patients were significantly greater than those of controls. IFN-gamma production on phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation was similar in patients and control groups. IFN was not detected in any of the sera from patients or controls.
- Published
- 1984
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