In vitro synthesis of immunoglobulin by rheumatoid synovial membrane.

A technique for the in vitro culture of rheumatoid synovial tissue with (14)C-amino acids and isolation and quantitation of the newly synthesized immunoglobulins has been developed. This technique has been used to compare immunoglobulin synthesis of 12 rheumatoid synovia with that of synovia from nonarthritic patients and with that of normal human lymph nodes and spleen. In addition, the spleen of a patient with Felty's syndrome has also been examined. Immunoglobulin synthesis in rheumatoid synovia has been shown to be quantitatively and qualitatively similar to that of normal human spleen and lymph nodes although somewhat less active than the Felty's syndrome spleen examined. 79% of the immunoglobulin produced in rheumatoid synovia was of the IgG type, whereas IgM comprised 10% and IgA, 11% of the total. Less than 10% of the IgM synthesized was found to be rheumatoid factor. A fraction containing approximately 90% of its radioactivity in the form of IgG has been obtained for further studies.