Table 3

Comparison of cytokine production in biopsy specimens obtained arthroscopically from synovitis in pannus tissue versus distal villous formation of the same joint. Five patients with rheumatoid arthritis with a disease duration of 6–29 years were studied

Patient number	Biopsy site	IL1α^3-150	IL1β^3-150	IL6^3-150	TNFα^3-150	Control	CD3	CD68
RA-16	Villous	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	ND	ND
RA-16	CPJ^3-150	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	ND	ND
RA-17	Villous	4.1	1.6	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	13.0	10.7
RA-17	CPJ	6.7	0.8	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	6.6	6.7
RA-18	Villous	6.4	0.8	<0.2	<0.2	1.1	2.0	1.4
RA-18	CPJ	0.7	1.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	0.7	0.9
RA-19	Villous	3.4	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	8.2	15.4
RA-19	CPJ	0.1	<0.2	0.3	<0.2	<0.2	5.3	12.3
RA-20	Villous	2.1	13.6	<0.2	7.6	<0.2	12.2	28.6
RA-20	CPJ	1.3	9.2	<0.2	0.9	<0.2	1.2	16.3

↵3-150 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. The results do not indicate any statistically verified differences concerning the expression of the studied cytokines in pannus tissue versus villous formation in individual joints. The size of each tissue section ranged from 2 to 12 mm².