Impaired delayed hypersensitivity in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is thought by many to be a different disease from rheumatoid arthritis in adults (RA), partly because of the infrequency of pathological serological phenomena (Calabro, 1966). Recent investigations have, however, shown that antigammaglobulin and antinuclear antibodies are often found in sera from patients with JRA (KAss and Munthe, 1969; Torrigiani, Ansell, Chown, and Roitt, 1969; Zutshi, Ansell, Bywaters, Epstein, Holborow, and Reading, 1969; Bianco, Panush, Stillman, and Schur, 1971). It is unknown whether these autoantibodies result from an abnormal antigen stimulation in a normal immunological apparatus or from a normal antigen stimulation in an abnormal immunological apparatus. Scant information is available regarding the possible alteration of cellular immune reactions in patients with JRA (Panush, Bianco, Schur, Rocklin, David, and Stillman, 1972). The purpose of this investigation was to study the immunological apparatus in patients with JRA. The present report describes the results of testing of delayed hypersensitivity in a group of patients, compared with the results obtained in ageand sexmatched controls.