Inflammatory response in rheumatoid arthritis
The aim of the research is to determine the clinical significance of cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-12, IL-15 and IL-18 in evaluation of the activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). By comparing the concentrations in 30 patients with high, 14 patients with moderate and 20 patients with mild activity of RA it is established that the patients with high degree of disease activity, have significantly high (p<0.01; p<0.05) concentrations of examined cytokines and rheumatoid factor in blood and synovial fluid as well as C-reactive protein in serum in relation to patients with moderate and mild active disease. We have concluded that the cytokines concentrations can be good indicators of the degree of the general activity of RA. This research can contribute to interpretation of insufficiently well known views of pathogenesis role of cytokines in active disease.