Phenotypes of peripheral dendritic cells in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

The search for new biomarkers that will allow the diagnosis of arthritis in the early, pre-destructive phase of the disease is still underway. Twenty two patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), duration of the disease up to 12 months) were included in the study. Fifteen patient patients comprised a group of late rheumatoid arthritis. Eighteen patients with OA and without inflammatory arthropathy had formed the control group. Analysis of the B-lymphocytes, myeloid, and plasmacytoid DCs count was carried out using a flow cytofluorimeter (BD FACSCantoII, USA) and FacsDiva software. The percent of plasmacytoid DCs was statistically significant predominated in the group of patients with early and late RA in comparison with the control group - 3.8 * 10% and 9.0 * 10% vs 1.0 * 10%, respectively (p = 0.0042). Furthermore, the difference was found in the percent of cells with the phenotype B-lymphocytes: 7.95 * 10% and 7.7 * 10% vs 3.3* 10%, respectively (p = 0.014). The dynamics was detected due to a decrease in the percent of plasmacytoid dendritic cells and B-lymphocytes in patients in the group with early rheumatoid arthritis: respectively 3.5 * 10% vs 0.6 * 10% (statistically not significant, p> 0.05), and 6.9 * 106 / l vs 4.9 * 10% (p= 0.045). These data demonstrate the difference in the peripheral blood DCs subtypes ratio in group with early and late RA compared with OA- patients. These cellular markers can be used for early diagnosis, evaluation the activity and treatment effectiveness in patient with RA.