We determined PECAM-1 polymorphisms, soluble PECAM-1, and CD40L levels in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and evaluated their associations with clinical atherosclerotic complications.
In this study, we describe the in vivo consequences of PECAM-1 deficiency in mouse models of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and K/BxN passive transfer model that resembles many of the features of human rheumatoid arthritis.
A population of cells that expressed CD34 on their surface but lacked the endothelial cell marker CD31 was found in the synovial tissue of RA and OA patients.
However, the generation of von Willebrand factor (vWF)-positive cells and CD31+/vWF+ cells from RA bone marrow-derived CD34+ cells was significantly higher than that from control subjects (P = 0.004 and P = 0.030, respectively).