Plasma levels of IL-37 and correlation with TNF-α, IL-17A, and disease activity during DMARD treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

PLoS One. 2014 May 1;9(5):e95346. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095346. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the change of IL-37 concentrations in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients under Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy, and to establish a correlation between Interleukin-37 and pro-inflammatory cytokines in plasma and disease activity. The plasma level of IL-37 was determined using ELISA in 50 newly diagnosed RA patients and 30 healthy controls (HC). Plasma levels of IL-17A, IL-6 and TNF-α were measured using flow a cytometric bead array assay. We found that the concentrations of IL-37, as well as IL-17A, IL-6 and TNF-α, were higher in plasma of RA patients compared to HCs. Compared to patients who did not respond to DMARD treatment, treatment of patients responsive to DMARDs resulted in down-regulation of IL-17A, IL-6 and TNF-α expression. The plasma level of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-37 was also decreased in drug responders after DMARD treatment. The plasma level of IL-37 in RA patients was positively correlated with pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-17A, TNF-α) and disease activity (CRP, DAS28) in RA patients. IL-37 expression in RA and during DMARD treatment appears to be controlled by the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This results in a strong correlation between plasma levels of IL-37 and disease activity in RA patients.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antirheumatic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid / blood*
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid / drug therapy
  • Biomarkers / blood
  • Cytokines / blood
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Inflammation Mediators / blood
  • Interleukin-1 / blood*
  • Interleukin-17 / blood*
  • Interleukin-6 / blood
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / blood*

Substances

  • Antirheumatic Agents
  • Biomarkers
  • Cytokines
  • IL37 protein, human
  • Inflammation Mediators
  • Interleukin-1
  • Interleukin-17
  • Interleukin-6
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30972610 and 81273240), Jilin Province Science and Technology Agency (No. 20110716), the Health Department Research Projects in Jilin Province (2009Z054) and the Cutting-edge Science and Interdisciplinary Innovation Projects of Jilin University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.