[Prostaglandins in the blood serum of patients with rheumatoid arthritis].

Radioimmunoassay was used to study the content of prostaglandins in blood plasma of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (PGE in 133 and PGF2 alpha in 102 patients). It has been established that as compared to the control group subjects, it is appreciably elevated and reflects the degree of inflammatory process activity, being pronounced to a greater measure in persons not receiving glucocorticoids than in hormone-dependent patients. A relationship has been revealed between the content of PGE and PGF2 alpha and certain clinical and laboratory characteristics (disease standing, intensity of exudative component of inflammation, the presence of humoral and cellular immunity disorders, anemia, and some visceral lesions), which may be of definite importance in the assessment of the patient's status. The time-course of changes in blood plasma prostaglandins reflects on the whole the dynamics of the disease activity, being related to a greater degree to the application of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents than of glucocorticoids.