Monoclonal antibody investigation in rheumatoid arthritis: presence of a T cell subpopulation bearing a double marker.

Using a double marking technique of peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) from 23 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 12 normal healthy subjects (NHS), the authors were able to demonstrate that there was no alteration in the OKT8 + ve population of RA patients, when compared with NHS. On the contrary, an increased percentage of the subpopulation of lymphocytes OKT4 + ve was detected. Finally, the presence of a subpopulation of T cells carrying both the receptors for monoclonal antibodies OKT4 and OKT8 has been detected.