Neo-antigenic expression in rheumatoid synovia?

CEA-like activity was found in eight synovial samples of ten rheumatoid patients and in two samples of patients with recurrent arthrosynovitis. No CEA-like activity was found instead in seven synovial samples of patients with gonarthrosis. The plasmatic values result always within normal range in the non-rheumatoid patients and high only in two cases of rheumatoid ones. Since enzymatic proteolysis induces a synovial CEA-like activity fall, the A.A. think that the antigenic determinants belong to a "protein" locally synthesized.