The aim of the study was to analyse the correlations between serum concentrations of the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP-1, TIMP-2) and clinical markers of the disease activity in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. The study group consisted of 30 RA patients, untreated with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs or corticosteroids, with disease duration less than 3 years. The analysis of serum concentrations of TIMPs was based on a quantitative sandwich ELISA. We found the positive correlations between serum TIMP-1 level and clinical markers of the disease activity such as the Ritchie articular index, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and disease activity score (DAS) (in all cases p<0.05). Furthermore, we observed positive correlations between serum TIMP-2 concentration and ESR (p<0.01). We conclude that studied tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases might be useful clinical markers of the disease activity in early rheumatoid arthritis.