Cytokine pattern in very early rheumatoid arthritis favours B-cell activation and survival

© The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology.
Objectives. B cells play an important role in the perpetuation of RA, particularly as autoantibody-producing cells. The ICs that further develop deposit in the joints and aggravate the inflammatory process. However, B-cell contribution in the very early stage of the disease remains unknown. The main goal of this work was to determine the concentration of cytokines potentially relevant for B-cell activation in serum from very early polyarthritis patients, with
Sociedade Portuguesa de Reumatologia/Schering-Plough 2005. R.A.M. and R.C. were funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) SFRH/BD/30247/2006 and SFRH/BD/40513/2007, respectively. M.M.S.-C. was funded by Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship PERG-2008-239422 and an EULAR Young Investigator Award.