Vol.20 No.1

Original Article

Decoy receptor 3 is highly expressed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Authors

Shinya Hayashi1 , Yasushi Miura1,2 , Koji Tateishi1 , Masayasu Takahashi1 , Masahiro Kurosaka1

  • Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan
  • Division of Orthopedic Science, Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 7-10-2 Tomogaoka, Suma, Kobe 654-0142, Japan
Received:

1 June 2009

Accepted:

10 September 2009

Published online:

10 October 2009

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Abstract

Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3), a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily, is a soluble receptor that binds to the TNF family including Fas ligand (Fas-L), LIGHT, and TL1A. DcR3 is mostly expressed in tumor cells and competitively inhibits the TNF family. We previously demonstrated that overexpressed DcR3 in rheumatoid synovial cells protects the cells from apoptosis in vitro. The objective of the study was to investigate DcR3 expression in serum and joint fluids of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA), and to analyze the correlations with disease activities and TNFα expression. Sera and joint fluids were collected from patients with RA and OA. Expression of DcR3 in sera and joint fluids was measured by ELISA. The concentration of DcR3 in sera and joint fluids of RA patients was significantly higher than that in sera and joint fluids of OA patients. A correlation between serum DcR3 concentration and disease activity was not observed, but the serum DcR3 concentration was strongly correlated with the TNFα concentration. DcR3 was highly expressed in serum and joint fluids of RA patients.

Key words

Rheumatoid arthritis - Osteoarthritis - Decoy receptor 3 - TNF-α