Abstract
A study by Raza et al., published in this journal in 2005, identified that RA patients, within 3 months of symptom onset, had a synovial fluid cytokine profile that was distinct from that of patients with other inflammatory arthritides of similarly short duration. This profile, which was transient, was characterised by cytokines of stromal and T cell origin. These findings suggested that the first few months after symptom onset were associated with changes in the early RA joint that differed from those operating at later stages. The significance of this paper’s methodological approach and its findings, and how they relate to subsequent literature, are discussed.
Study of stromal cell–derived factor 1α in synovial fluid in early rheumatoid arthritis: Comment on the article by Kanbe et al