Lymphocyte subpopulations in normals and patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis

Seventy-four normal persons, 48 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and 25 patients with ankylosing spondylitis, were examined in respect to lymphocyte subpopulations in the peripheral blood. The simultaneous enumeration of T lymphocytes (E rosettes), B lymphocytes (surface immunoglobulin), as well as null cells and double marker cells was performed. No significant differences could be observed in the three examined groups in respect to the absolute or the relative lymphocyte counts, suggesting that possible immunological impairment assumed in rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, is due not to reduced cell numbers, but to a possible functional disorder.