Lymphocyte reactivity in rheumatoid arthritis. Mixed lymphocyte culture.

Lymphocyte function in rheumatoid arthritis has been assessed by the mixed lymphocyte culture assay. In contrast to previous studies, no difference was found between lymphocytes from healthy volunteers and patients with rheumatoid arthritis. An occasional patient's lymphocytes failed to respond on a given day, but were normal on restudy. All 44 arthritic patient's lymphocytes underwent blast transformation on stimulation with lymphocytes from unrelated donors. By reaction in mixed lymphocyte culture, lymphocytes from patients with rheumatoid arthritis appear to be normal and no different from normal cells studied simultaneously.