PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - de Vere-Tyndall, A
AU  - Bacon, T
AU  - Parry, R
AU  - Tyrrell, D A
AU  - Denman, A M
AU  - Ansell, B M
TI  - Infection and interferon production in systemic juvenile chronic arthritis: a prospective study.
AID  - 10.1136/ard.43.1.1
DP  - 1984 Feb 01
TA  - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
PG  - 1--7
VI  - 43
IP  - 1
4099  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/43/1/1.short
4100  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/43/1/1.full
SO  - Ann Rheum Dis1984 Feb 01; 43
AB  - Twenty-four episodes of disease exacerbation in 19 children suffering from systemic juvenile chronic arthritis were studied. Sixteen of these were preceded by an infection (chi 2 = 20.14, p less than 0.001), mostly of the upper respiratory tract. In the 10 cases seen during an infection causative agents were identified in 5 (herpes simplex, rhinovirus, and on 3 occasions streptococcus). The total number of infections was not increased when compared with infection rates predicted by several reported studies. In the absence of clinical infection, specific antibody titres to a panel of microbial antigens were similar to those of a control group but with a trend toward higher titres in patients with hypergammaglobulinaemia. Interferon (IFN) responses were not defective, though sequential in-vitro IFN production from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) fluctuated considerably in the same patients, occasionally being absent with no obvious clinical correlate. IFN-alpha was induced by stimulation with Newcastle disease virus (NDV), and the mean responses of the patients were significantly greater than those of controls. IFN-gamma production on phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation was similar in patients and control groups. IFN was not detected in any of the sera from patients or controls.