Interleukin-1 and interleukin-2 production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Contradictory results have been reported concerning the secretion of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) by mononuclear cells of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. In the present study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 18 RA patients were stimulated in vitro to produce IL-1 and IL-2 and compared with monocytes of age-matched healthy control subjects. Endotoxin-stimulated monocytes of RA patients produced normal amounts of IL-1 compared with healthy controls (P = 0.5), whereas T-lymphocytes from the same patients produced decreased amounts of IL-2 compared with control T-lymphocytes (P less than 0.01). There was no difference in IL-1 or IL-2 production by mononuclear cells from patients with active or inactive disease. These findings could not be explained by concurrent therapy, and support the notion that defective immunoregulatory T-cell functions are involved in the pathogenesis of RA.
Rozenbaum
M
M
Department of Rheumatology, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
Scharf
Y
Y
Katz
R
R
Pollack
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D003470:Culture Media; D007375:Interleukin-1; D007376:Interleukin-2