The reaction of blood lymphocytes from patients with rheumatoid arthritis against human connective tissue cells in vitro.
Blood lymphocytes from twenty-four patients with rheumatoid arthritis and twenty-two controls were incubated on monolayers of human fibroblasts in a serum-free medium. Lymphocytes from nineteen of the rheumatoid patients caused severe damage to the fibroblasts within 72 hr. The findings support the idea that sensitized lymphocytes play an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. The in vitro test may be useful in clinical practice in distinguishing rheumatoid from non-rheumatoid arthritis.