PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - H J Bernelot Moens
AU  - H J Ament
AU  - T M Vroom
AU  - T E Feltkamp
AU  - J K van der Korst
TI  - Perivascular infiltration in normal skin of patients with rheumatoid arthritis: association with rheumatoid factors and HLA-DR antigens.
AID  - 10.1136/ard.47.10.838
DP  - 1988 Oct 01
TA  - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
PG  - 838--842
VI  - 47
IP  - 10
4099  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/47/10/838.short
4100  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/47/10/838.full
SO  - Ann Rheum Dis1988 Oct 01; 47
AB  - The relation between immunohistological findings in biopsy specimens of apparently normal skin, HLA antigens, and rheumatoid factors (RF) was studied in 120 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), selected for treatment with D-penicillamine. Perivascular infiltration (PVI) of more than three mononuclear cells was present in 77 (68%) of 114 patients, accompanied usually by the presence of IgM or C3, or both, in immunofluorescence studies. The number of perivascular cells was associated significantly with the titre of circulating RF. A weak relation of both perivascular cellular infiltration and RF with HLA-DR3 and DR4 did not reach statistical significance. It is concluded that the histological presence of perivascular inflammation is associated mainly with deposition of RF. It is suggested that the first is merely an epiphenomenon of the latter. PVI was not prognostic for the occurrence of the clinical syndrome of rheumatoid vasculitis. For practical purposes skin biopsies do not appear to be useful in the evaluation of individual patients with RA.