Oncogene activation in rheumatoid synovium.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic disorder that is dominated by the debilitating sequelae associated with the progressive destruction of articular joints. The molecular and cellular basis of rheumatoid joint destruction is characterized by an abnormal expression of oncogenes modulating cellular proliferation and the induction of lysosomal and metalloproteinases. Based on the observation that the synovial hyperplasia in RA is associated with the proliferation of transformed-appearing synovial lining cells and an overexpression of such oncogenes, the possibility that a hitherto unknown HTLV related retrovirus is involved in the etiopathogenesis of RA is discussed.