Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2005;64:1075-1078
© 2005 by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & European League Against Rheumatism
CONCISE REPORT
X linked agammaglobulinaemia and rheumatoid arthritis
1 Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Gent, Belgium
2 Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Gent, Belgium
3 Department of Pathology, University of Gent, Belgium
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Assistant Professor D Elewaut
Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Gent, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Gent, Belgium; dirk.elewaut{at}ugent.be
Background: Much interest has been shown recently in the pathogenic role of B cells in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) owing to the marked clinical responses to anti-CD20 treatment in RA.
Case report: A patient with X linked agammaglobulinaemia (XLA) presented with an erosive symmetric polyarthritis with histological features of RA, including formation of a destructive pannus. Furthermore, the patient developed subcutaneous nodules that were histologically indistinguishable from rheumatoid nodules. Surprisingly, lymphocytic infiltrates in both the synovium and nodule consisted almost exclusively of CD8+ T cells.
Discussion: Although some peculiar B cell subsets have been described in patients with XLA, no B cell subsets could be demonstrated in synovial tissue or the subcutaneous nodule. This case illustrates that classical RA can develop in the absence of mature B cells.
Abbreviations: Btk, Bruton’s tyrosine kinase; GPI, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase; MC, metacarpophalangeal; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; XLA, X linked agammaglobulinaemia
Keywords: B cells; X linked agammaglobulinaemia; rheumatoid arthritis
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
-
All Versions of this Article:
ard.2004.030049v1
64/7/1075 most recent - Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
-
Immunology (including allergy)
-
Connective tissue disease
-
Degenerative joint disease
-
Musculoskeletal syndromes
- Rheumatoid arthritis
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
