Abstract
Predicting disease course in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is difficult. During the first 6 months of oligoarticular JIA (O-JIA) disease presents with 4 or fewer affected joints, however after 6 or more months severity might increase with more than 4 joints involved (extended O-JIA), or persist with 4 or fewer joints affected (persistent O-JIA). However patients do not show any clinical differences at onset making a decision on treatment strategy difficult before extension occurs. It has previously been shown that the CD4/CD8 T cell ratio in extended-to-be patients (samples before extension has occurred) is lower compared to those who persist (Hunter et al 2010), and thus might be a useful biomarker in predicting the course of disease. However measuring this cell ratio currently requires specialized expertise. To translate the measurement of the CD4/8 synovial T cell ratio as a biomarker a method is needed, which could be used in a wide range of hospital facilities, hence a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) method was tested.
Highlights
Predicting disease course in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is difficult
Validating previous results, the CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio measured by flow cytometry was significantly lower in SFMC than in healthy adult peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)
Measurement of CD4/8 ratio by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and flow cytometry showed some correlation in healthy adult PBMC
Summary
Predicting disease course in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is difficult. It has previously been shown that the CD4/CD8 T cell ratio in extended-to-be patients (samples before extension has occurred) is lower compared to those who persist (Hunter et al 2010), and might be a useful biomarker in predicting the course of disease. Measuring this cell ratio currently requires specialized expertise. To translate the measurement of the CD4/8 synovial T cell ratio as a biomarker a method is needed, which could be used in a wide range of hospital facilities, a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) method was tested
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