Levels of soluble receptors for tumor necrosis factor type I and type II in paired synovial fluids of arthritis patients.

The objective of this study was to determine whether levels of soluble receptors for tumor necrosis factor type I and type II (sTNF-RI and sTNF-RII) as measured in paired synovial fluids (SF) of arthritis patients are associated with clinical or laboratory parameters of local inflammation. sTNF-RI and -RII were measured by ELISA. We found that sTNF-RI and -RII did not correlate with activity of local inflammation. sTNF-RI levels correlated with sTNF-RII concentrations. We concluded that sTNF-RI and -II did not represent markers for local disease activity in arthritis patients.