Goats infected with caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) develop chronic arthritis sharing many features with human rheumatoid arthritis (RA). TNF is thought to be a key mediator contributing to the formation of the arthritic lesion in RA. We studied this cytokine in goats suffering from chronic arthritis. TNF alpha expressing cells were detected by in situ hybridization in synovial membranes of arthritic carpal joints. Expression of TNF alpha did not correlate with the degree of viral replication as assessed by in situ hybridization for viral RNA. In line with the lack of correlation between the degree of viral replication and TNF expression in vivo, we failed to detect increased cytokine RNA in goat macrophages infected with CAE virus in vitro and no TNF protein was found in culture supernatants. In addition, virus infection failed to prime goat macrophages for enhanced TNF expression in response to lipopolysaccharide. Taken together, these findings argue against a direct role of CAE virus in increasing the expression of TNF alpha in caprine arthritis.