Pro-inflammatory autoreactive T lymphocytes specific for cartilage-associated antigens play a pivotal role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis. Standard treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is based on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), nonbiologic and biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and non-specific (non-selective) immunosuppressants (hormones, cytostatic agents and others). This treatment fails to interrupt the underlying immunopathological events and is often associated with serious complications.
T-cell autovaccination-based technology is aimed to stimulate patient’s immune responses, which selectively inactivate pathogenic self-reactive Т lymphocytes.
Forty-two patients (age 28–58 y; 37 women, 5 men) with rheumatoid arthritis (disease history ≥2 years) were subjected to the T-cell vaccination treatment. Our clinical data (Table 1) showed that T cell vaccination of rheumatoid arthritis patients (n = 42) resulted in apparent clinical improvements over a 2 year follow-up .
Table 1. Clinical parameters of rheumatoid arthritis patients.
| Parameter | Follow-up time (months) | |||||
| 0 (n=42) | 3 (n=42) | 6 (n=42) | 12 (n=42) | 18 (n=32) | 24 (n=22) | |
| COE (mm/h) | 38.41±2.20 | 31.12±1.94** | 22.81±1.26** | 21.75±1.60** | 20.19±1.74** | 21.14±2.12** |
| Hb (g/L) | 107.80±1.45 | 113.70±1.25** | 120.81±1.01** | 125.20±0.98** | 126.42±1.17** | 126.46±1.88** |
| DAS 28 | 5.92±0.13 | 4.93±0.16** | 3.34±0.18** | 2.99±0.17** | 2.96±0.21** | 3.12±0.27** |
In conclusion. rheumatoid arthritis patients with early and advanced stages of the disease can obtain significant clinical benefits due to the application of autologous T cell vaccination.