To investigate whether adenoviral DNA is present in synovial specimens from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Synovial fluid (SF) cells from 53 patients with early RA (duration less than 1 year) and synovial tissue samples of 20 patients with advanced RA were studied by using polymerase chain reaction for the presence of adenoviral DNA. The controls were 21 patients with other arthropathies.
No adenoviral DNA was found in the SF leukocytes or synovial tissue of any of the patients with arthritis.
These findings do not indicate that adenoviruses play a role in the etiology of RA. However, they do not exclude adenoviruses as an occasional cause of persistent or recurrent inflammatory arthritis.