Figure 2

Effects of anti TNF-α therapy on the levels of mitochondrial point mutation and disease activity (DAS28-CRP). Patients were categorised into two groups according to their in vivo tissue oxygen tension (tpO₂) changes from baseline (T0 - white boxes) to three months after anti TNF-α therapy (T3 - grey boxes). (a) Group 1 represents patients whose tpO₂ levels improved at T3 in comparison with T0 (n = 4; P < 0.05). (b) Increase in tpO₂ was associated with significantly reduced frequency of mitochondrial point mutations at T3 in comparison with baseline levels (P < 0.05). (c) It was also associated with significantly lower DAS28-CRP scores at T3 than at T0 (P < 0.05). (d) Group 2 represents patients whose in vivo oxygen levels remained the same or reduced at T3 in comparison with T0 (n = 4; P < 0.05). (e) No significant changes in the pre/post levels of mtDNA mutations were observed in patients having more hypoxic synovium at T3 than at T0 (NS). (f) No significant changes in the pre/post levels of DAS28-CRP were found in patients who were more hypoxic at T3 than at T0 (NS). Boxes represent the 25th to 75th percentiles, lines within the boxes represent the median, and lines outside the boxes represent the 10th and 90th percentiles.