Peripheral blood T helper type 17 frequency shows an inverse correlation with disease activity and magnetic resonance imaging-based osteitis and erosions in disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug- and steroid-naive established rheumatoid arthritis.

An increased expansion of T helper type 17 (Th17) cells in the synovium has been shown to play a key role in cartilage and bone destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Because the correlation of the peripheral blood helper T cell subsets and various inflammatory cytokines with the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based parameters have not been studied adequately to date, we sought to look for the same in this study. RA patients with disease duration less than 36 months, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and steroid-naive, were recruited. MRI of the dominant hand and wrist was performed using a 0·2 Tesla MRI machine. Peripheral blood Th1 and Th17 were enumerated by flow cytometry and serum interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-17 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Forty consecutive seropositive RA patients [33 females, mean disease duration 12·2 months, mean disease activity score (DAS)28 = 4·4] were included. MRI revealed erosions in 80% of these subjects. On subgroup analysis, prevalence of erosions (94 versus 68%) as well as mean erosion score (11·5 ± 18·9 versus 3·5 ± 6·0) were significantly higher in established RA (13-36 months' duration) compared to early RA (0-12 months). The median peripheral blood Th17 frequencies were significantly higher in patients (1·4%) compared to healthy controls (0·7%) and had a strong negative correlation with MRI parameters of erosion and osteitis as well as with DAS28 in the established RA subgroup. The frequency of peripheral blood Th17 subset was significantly expanded in established RA which correlated inversely with disease activity as well as MRI based erosions and osteitis.