Background

The authors reported that immunological parameters can predict the response to treatment in early rheumatoid arthritis independently of the treatment received as well as relapse in patients who achieved clinical remission. Normal naive CD4 T cell frequency predicted the ability of patients to achieve remission after 12 months of therapy. In contrast, regulatory T cell (Treg) frequency was not associated with remission but the frequency of Tregs expressing CD62L was higher. Inflammation related cells (IRC), a subset generated by the cytokine …