On a cellular level, the V50 allele conferred significantly reduced responsiveness to interleukin-4, providing a possible mechanism for the association of the I50V IL4R polymorphism with early erosions in RA.
Analysis of the individual phenotypes (RA or JIA) showed that both the IL-4 +33 TT (P = 0.02; OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.07-0.87) and the IL-4R Q551R CC genotypes (P = 0.001; OR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.06-0.56) were exclusively decreased in female RA patients compared to female controls.
Associations have been reported between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-10 and the Ile50Val polymorphism of the IL-4 receptor gene (IL-4R) gene and atopy and autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.
MTX, SSZ, infliximab, and IL-4 each inhibited the expression of RANKL in RA FLS in a dose-dependent manner, and also increased the secretion of OPG in RA FLS supernatants.
DC-SIGN expression on RA monocytes or on monocytes stimulated with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4 was further investigated by flow cytometry.
In this context, we investigated Th1- (IFN-gamma, IL-2) and Th2 (IL-10, IL-4)-cell-derived cytokine mRNA expression in two novel pathohistological main-types of RA synovial membrane (SM).
To perform a linkage analysis with microsatellite markers located in the vicinity of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene superfamily, the IL-10 gene and the IL-4 gene cluster which might be considered putative candidate loci for RA.
Addition of anti-IL-10 neutralizing antibody to RA synovial tissue cells resulted in a substantial increase in IL-1beta and TNF-alpha levels, whereas neither anti-IL-4 nor anti-IL-13 antibody had a significant effect.
IL-10, IL-13, IFN-gamma, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, LT-alpha, CD154, and TNF-related activation-induced cytokine (TRANCE) were expressed by 2-20% of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial tissue CD4(+) memory T cells, whereas CD4(+) cells that produced IL-2, IL-4, or IL-6 were not detected.
The results of this study therefore indicate an imbalance in the levels of Th1 and Th2 cytokines at the site of inflammation in RA, and draw attention to the possibility of treatment of progressive or intractable RA with IL-4 and/or IL-10.
Thus there is a variable pattern of cytokine gene expression in rat AA, the undetectable IL-4 and IFN-gamma mRNA in synovium being analogous to human rheumatoid arthritis.
While IL-4 suppressed lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IL-12 and IL-10 production by human peripheral blood monocytes, IL-4 suppressed LPS-induced IL-12, but not IL-10, production by synovial fluid mononuclear cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
In vitro, under the action of MTX, IL-10 gene expression was significantly increased in the 3 groups, IL-4 gene expression was significantly increased in RA group 1 and in the control group, and IL-2 and IFNgamma gene expression was significantly decreased in RA group 1.
To compare the cytokine profile with the degree and composition of cellular infiltration in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) synovium, synovial membranes from patients with RA (n = 14) and OA (n = 5) were examined, employing immunohistochemistry and competitive reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), for interleukin (IL)-I beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, and IL-10, and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) gene expression.
Immunofluorescence analysis of CD27 expression by CD4 lymphocytes from the peripheral blood of healthy humans or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and from the synovial fluid (SF) of RA patients was carried out, along with the estimation of cytokine gene [interleukin (IL) 2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-6R, IL-10 and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma)] expression in these lymphocyte subsets by RT-PCR.
To investigate whether T cells in the inflamed joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) preferentially produce the T helper 1 (Th1) cytokines, interferon-gamma (IFN gamma) and interleukin-2 (IL-2), or the Th2 cytokine, IL-4, when compared with corresponding peripheral blood-derived T cells.