Rheumatoid Arthritis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Rheumatoid Arthritis, including details on treatment, symptoms, causes, medication.

Rheumatoid nodulosis during methotrexate therapy in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.

Matsushita I, Uzuki M, Matsuno H, Sugiyama E, Kimura T

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan. matusita@med.u-toyama.ac.jp

We report a 62-year-old man with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who developed nodulosis after methotrexate (MTX) treatment. The epithelioid cells of nodules were positive for matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2, MMP-3, MMP-9, and Ki67. The synovial tissues obtained from the same patient were negative for MMP-3, MMP-9, and Ki67. This study demonstrated that MTX-induced nodules are different from synovial tissues in terms of MMP expression, suggesting the presence of different pathologic mechanisms and differential MTX susceptibility.

Published 13 December 2006 in Mod Rheumatol, 16(6): 401-3.
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