Molecular biology of infectious agents in chronic arthritis
Gérard HC et al. – Article reviews the molecular biology of the organisms that elicit reactive arthritis, with emphasis on C trachomatis and C pneumoniae, and discusses the means by which those detailed characteristics engender inflammatory joint disease. All currently available data indicate that persistent chlamydial infection of the synovium is a central facet of the arthritogenic process. Whereas there are the beginnings of an understanding of the biology of persistence for C trachomatis, and to a lesser extent for C pneumoniae, there is little information concerning how that infection state is elicited within monocytic cells. Directions for further research that should point the way toward new and effective therapies to treat this form of arthritis are suggested. [more...]
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