Concurrent Oral 9 – Rheumatoid Arthritis: Aetiopathogenesis [OP59–OP64]

• Published in: Rheumatology (Oxford, England) Vol. 49; no. suppl-1; pp. i26 - i28
• Main Authors: Biliavska, Iuliia V., Bortkevych, Oleg P., Ceeraz, Sabrina, Spencer, Jo, Choy, Ernest H., Corrigall, Valerie, Bombardieri, Michele, Ngar Woon Kam, Yvonne, Brentano, Fabia, Choi, Ken, Kyburz, Diego, Gay, Steffen, McInnes, Iain B., Pitzalis, Costantino, Gompels, Luke L., Vincent, Tonia, Madden, Leigh, Lim, Ngee H., McConnell, Ellen, Mcnamee, Kay, Haskard, Dorian O., Paleolog, Ewa M., Swales, Catherine, Mahoney, David J., Athanasou, Nicholas A., Sharif, Omar, Day, Anthony J., Milner, Caroline M., Sabokbar, Afsie, Knowles, Helen, Cleton-Jansen, Anne-Marie, Korsching, Eberhard, Athanasou, Nick
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 01-04-2010
• ISSN: 1462-0324; 1462-0332
• DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keq709

Background: Interleukin (IL)-17 is the main Th-1 cytokine, produced by activated T-lymphocytes. The potential IL-17 value in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis consists of its independent inflammatory response induction and mediated stimulation of proinflammatory factors synthesis resulting in joint destruction. The aim of study was to determine the role of IL-17 in immuno-inflammatory/autoimmune reactions development and to reveal IL-17 serum level associations with clinical and immunological characteristics of RA. Methods: 50 patients with early RA (disease duration < 12 month) and 15 healthy individuals were examined. All patients underwent complex clinical and laboratory examination. The immunological investigation included lymphocyte count and its subpopulative composition determination using monoclonal antibodies; detection of circulative immune complex level was done by Digeon method, IgG, IgM, IgA - by Manchini method. The serum concentrations of CRP(DAI, USA), sCD40L, matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-3 (Bender MedSystems, Austria), IL-17 (Biosource, Belgium), rheumatoid factor (RF) («Vektorbest», Russia), anti-CCP antibodies (Axies-Shield Diagnostic, UK) were revealed using ELISA immunoassay. Results: On the base of IL-17 serum level patients were divided in two groups: group1 (n = 28) were patients with normal IL-17 serum level and group2 (n = 22) were those with high IL-17 serum level. In the group2, the rate of patients’ pain assessment by visual analogue scale (67.3 ± 7.2 vs 32.8 ± 4.6; P < 0.001), tender (16.7 ± 2.0 vs 8.4 ± 1.1; P < 0.01) and swollen (12.3 ± 2.3 vs 3.9 ± 0.8; P < 0.01) joint count, DAS28 (5.0 ± 0.4 vs 2.8 ± 0.2 P < 0.01) were significantly higher compare to group1. It was found that in group2 the higher T-lymphocyte amount (CD3) was due to CD4 higher quantity, at the same time CD8 amount was significantly lower (22.2 ± 1.5% vs 28.4 ± 1.7%, P < 0.05) compare to group1. This caused the immunoregulative index increasing and indicated in the lost of autoimmune process regulation, including B-lymphocytes (CD19) activation. The CD154 expression was significantly lower in the group2 (3.4 ± 0.4% vs 10.8 ± 2.8%, P < 0.05) compare to group1. The difference in autoimmune reaction indices wasn’t significant between groups except antibody-producing B-lymphocytes (13.7 ± 1.5% vs 8.5 ± 1.0%, P < 0.05) and IgM RF serum level (2.9 ± 0.3 U/ml vs 1.6 ± 0.5 U/ml, P < 0.05), which were significantly higher in group1. The IL-17 level had a positive correlative connections with DAS28 (r = 0.7; P < 0.05), circulative immune complex level (r = 0.38; P < 0.05), anti-CCP antibodies (r = 0.4; P < 0.05), IgM RF (r = 0.41; P < 0.05), CD4 (r = 0.38; P < 0.05) and negative correlative connection with CD8 (r = -0.39; P < 0.05). Conclusions: The importance of IL-17 value in immuno-inflammatory and autoimmune reactions development through T-lymphocytes activation in RA pathogenesis was confirmed. Thus the influence on T-depended immuno-inflammatory reaction products synthesis could be a new therapeutic target of RA patients’ management. Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.