Table 2

Quantification of cytokine production in biopsy specimens obtained arthroscopically from synovial villi of patients with rheumatoid arthritis with a disease duration of up to 18 months

Patient number	Biopsy site	IL1α^2-150	IL1β^2-150	IL6^2-150	TNFα^2-150	Control	CD3	CD68
RA-1	Villous	4.4	<0.2	6.1	<0.2	0.3	19.4	cellaND
RA-2	Villous	46.4	20.8	7.8	17.4	0.7	20.7	15.4
RA-3	Villous	31.8	<0.2	0.2	0.3	0.6	3.1	6.8
RA-4	Villous	4.8	8.9	<0.2	<0.2	0.5	6.9	17.0
RA-5	Villous	5.6	11.8	<0.2	<0.2	0.7	8.8	12.7
RA-6	Villous	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	0.9	3.2	11.1
RA-7	Villous	6.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	0.2	12.7	8.5
RA-7	CPJ^2-150	3.6	58.6	<0.2	11.2	0.6	2.7	4.8
RA-8	Villous	1.3	31.0	<0.2	7.2	0.2	6.6	11.3
RA-8	CPJ	2.7	21.0	2.0	10.6	1.5	5.9	13.4
RA-9	Villous	5.3	10.5	1.1	1.8	0.2	5.3	22.6
RA-9	CPJ	3.2	8.0	0.2	0.9	<0.2	1.5	22.5
RA-10	Villous	11.2	20.5	0.6	0.2	0.2	16.8	22.2
RA-10	CPJ	8.8	10.7	0.2	0.2	0.2	6.8	16.1
RA-11	Villous	4.5	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	0.5	6.9
RA-11	CPJ	25.8	3.1	4.6	8.3	0.6	1.4	13.0
RA-12	Villous	15.5	0.5	<0.2	0.7	<0.2	3.5	18.1
RA-12	CPJ	33.1	2.6	4.6	5.7	1.3	1.7	22.1
RA-13	Villous	18.9	1.2	<0.2	0.7	<0.2	2.0	29.8
RA-13	CPJ	12.7	1.4	<0.2	0.7	<0.2	3.3	27.5
RA-14	Villous	0.7	12.2	0.7	0.4	0.2	ND	ND
RA-14	CPJ	1.4	21.2	6.3	11.7	1.8	4.1	12.4
RA-15	Villous	15.8	1.8	<0.2	8.5	<0.2	5.3	31.9
RA-15	CPJ	42.2	7.8	<0.2	11.4	<0.2	5.0	29.3

↵2-150 IL1α = interleukin 1α; IL1β = interleukin 1β; IL6 = interleukin 6; TNFα = tumour necrosis factor α; CPJ = cartilage-pannus junction.
Cytokine data represent the area occupied by the staining for each cytokine expressed as percentage of the total section area. TNFα was significantly more expressed in pannus tissue than in villous formation of a given joint as judged by the Wilcoxon sign rank test for matched pairs (p=0.02). No such corresponding differences could be shown for IL1α, IL1β, or IL6 (p>0.05). The size of each tissue section ranged from 2 to 15 mm².