Hyporesponsiveness of lymphocytes to virus antigens in rheumatoid arthritis.

The immune response of peripheral blood lymphocytes to measles, rubella, parainfluenza types 1, 2, and 3 RNA virus antigens and to varicella-zoster and herpes virus type 1 DNA virus antigens was evaluated in 14 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 14 matched controls by assessing 3H-thymidine incorporation. The results demonstrated hyporesponsivenss of lymphocytes from RA patients to virus antigens and phytohemagglutinin (PHA), which did not appear to be nonspecific because of a lack of correlation between response to virus antigens and response to mitogens. The patterns of decreased responsiveness was suggestive of a relative restriction of hyporesponsiveness to RNA virus antigens.