Original Article

Interleukin-17 gene expression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Authors

Mika Kohno¹, Akito Tsutsumi², Hiroto Matsui¹, Makoto Sugihara¹, Takeshi Suzuki¹, Mizuko Mamura¹, Daisuke Goto¹, Isao Matsumoto¹, Satoshi Ito¹, Toru Suguro² and Takayuki Sumida¹

1. Division of Clinical Immunology, Major of Advanced Biomedical Applications, Graduate School Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennnodai, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan
2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan

Received:

14 August 2007

Accepted:

28 September 2007

Published online:

20 December 2007

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Abstract

Interleukin-17 is a proinflammatory cytokine. Recent animal studies have shown that IL-17 plays a role in the initiation and progression of arthritis. However, whether IL-17 has a prominent role in human rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or not remains unclear. Here we investigated the role of IL-17 in patients with RA. cDNA was prepared from knee joint synovial tissues of RA (n = 11) and osteoarthritic (OA, n = 10) patients and PBMC of RA (n = 52) and healthy subjects (n = 34). IL-17 gene expression level was measured by real-time PCR, and was compared with various clinical parameters. IL-17 gene expression in synovial tissues of RA was similar to that in OA. IL-17 gene expression level in PBMC of RA patients was significantly higher than in the control. The response (changes in DAS) to two-week treatment with anti-TNF-α blockers (infliximab or etanercept) did not correlate with changes in IL-17 gene expression levels. The IL-17/TNF-α gene expression ratio at baseline (before treatment) tended to be lower in responders to the treatment. Expression of IL-17 gene in PBMC may be associated with the inflammatory process of RA. IL-17/TNF-α expression ratio is a potentially suitable marker of response to anti-TNF-α therapy.

Key words

Etanercept - Infliximab - Interleukin-17 (IL-17) - Rheumatoid arthritis - Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)