Table 1.

Selected characteristics of the study RA population

	RA (antibody assay)	RA (T-cell proliferation)	RA (cytokine assay)
No. of patients	48	22	14
Age (years)	46 ± 16.7 (20–80)	43.5 ± 15.2 (22–70)	43 ± 14.7 (22–61)
Disease duration (years)	7.9 ± 8.5 (0.2–32)	8.9 ± 9.5 (0.5–32)	8.3 ± 6.5 (1–21)
Steinbrocker’s criteria
Stage I	10	2	1
Stage II	10	6	5
Stage III + IV	16	8	3
Unknown	12	6	5
RF-positive patients	24	11	6
ESR (mm/h)	29.63 ± 24.33	21.57 ± 16.26	17.15 ± 10.57
Disease activity (DAS28)	3.81 ± 1.04	3.72 ± 0.89	3.41 ± 0.089