[Biochemical aspects of chronic rheumatic inflammation]

Morphological phenomena in rheumatoid arthritis are closely correlated to the biochemical aberrations of connective tissue metabolism. Both, morphological and biochemical analysis of the altered tissue portions demonstrate evidence for uncontrolled proliferation resp. metabolism similar to human and experimental malignoma. The present state of biochemical knowledge in this field permits to describe the metabolic state of the afflicted tissue by means of enzyme activity and substrate pattern and to draw some conclusions in respect to the pathogenesis of inflammatory processes involved in chronic rheumatic diseases.