pSTAT6 and pSTAT1 in patients with chronic rheumatoid arthritis (n = 16).

IL-4 -induced pSTAT6 (A, D) and IFN-γ -induced pSTAT1 (B, E) fluorescence intensities and their ratios (C, F) in peripheral blood monocytes (A-C) and lymphocytes (D-F). Measurements were made before treatment (“Baseline”) and after 1-year treatment with biological drugs (“Follow-up”). Results are shown separately for patients with no or moderate treatment response (“No”, n = 6) or good response (“Good”, n = 10), as defined by EULAR criteria. The fluorescence intensities are given in relative fluorescence units (RFU), with squares denoting group means and whiskers denoting 95% confidence intervals. The horizontal dashed lines show the corresponding mean values in healthy controls (n = 37). The p-values denote significance of difference between baseline and follow-up values (permutation test). Predictive value of baseline levels for treatment response are shown in Table 2. Abbreviations: pSTAT, phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription, EULAR, European League Against Rheumatism.