Spontaneous lymphocyte activity in rheumatoid arthritis in a longitudinal study in relation to gold therapy.

Spontaneous lymphocyte activity has been measured over 24 weeks in rheumatoid arthritis patients who were receiving placebo, auranofin or gold sodium thiomalate (GST). The results suggest a relationship between a fall in lymphocyte activity and clinical improvement on GST. They also show that the patients with most active disease, as determined by the ESR, had normal levels of lymphocyte activity. We suggest that peripheral lymphocyte activity is secondary to immunological stimulation in the joint capsule, and is not directly related to disease activity. We conclude that spontaneous activity is probably an epiphenomenon and not related directly to disease activity or to disease prognosis.