Context
Immune abnormalities have been documented in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and are reminiscent of those seen in an aged immune system. Defects observed in the naive-T-cell compartment have raised the possibility of a defect in thymic function, which in turn will impose a proliferative stress on the total-T-cell compartment. In this paper, the authors address the issue of naive-T-cell homeostasis by determining the level of T cells that have T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs), alongside telomere length and proliferative capacity, in RA patients compared to age-matched controls.