Leukocyte Dynamics Reveal a Persistent Myeloid Dominance in Giant Cell Arteritis and Polymyalgia Rheumatica.

ABSTRACT: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) are inflammatory diseases requiring long-term glucocorticoid treatment. Limited data on dynamics in leukocyte counts before, during and after treatment are available. Leukocyte counts were measured, as cellular markers of inflammation, at fixed time points in our prospectively studied cohort of pre-treatment glucocorticoid-naive GCA (N = 42) and PMR (N = 31) patients. Values were compared with age-matched healthy controls (HCs; N = 51) and infection controls (N = 16). We report that before start of treatment monocyte and neutrophil counts were higher in GCA and PMR patients than in HCs, while NK- and B-cell counts were lower. C-reactive protein (CRP) levels correlated positively with monocyte counts in

SUBMITTER: van Sleen Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6714037 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature