Analysis of cytokine production patterns of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a rheumatoid arthritis patient successfully treated with rituximab

Vol.20 No.2

Case Report

Analysis of cytokine production patterns of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a rheumatoid arthritis patient successfully treated with rituximab

Authors

Akinori Yamamoto¹ , Kojiro Sato¹ , Fumihiko Miyoshi¹ , Yasufumi Shindo¹ , Yoshihiro Yoshida¹ , Kazuhiro Yokota¹ , Kyoichi Nakajima¹ , Haruhiko Akiba¹ , Yu Asanuma¹ , Yuji Akiyama¹ , Toshihide Mimura¹

Department of Rheumatology and Applied Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Saitama Medical University Hospital, 38 Morohongo, Moroyama, Iruma-gun Saitama, 350-0495, Japan

Received:

11 March 2009

Accepted:

1 October 2009

Published online:

7 November 2009

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Abstract

We had a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patient resistant to multiple drugs and who developed panniculitis due to etanercept treatment, then responded fairly well to rituximab. Intracellular staining of cytokines in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells before and after rituximab administration revealed that the cytokine production, representative of T-helper (Th)1-, Th2-, and Th17-type responses, decreased abruptly after the treatment. Interestingly, this timing coincided with that of the manifestation of the beneficial effect. This relationship may provide useful insight into the mechanism of action of the drug and hence about the pathogenesis of RA.

Key words

Rheumatoid arthritis - Rituximab - Th1 - Th2 - Th17