[Functional status of T helper cells in rheumatoid arthritis and effect of etanercept].
OBJECTIVE
To ascertain the effect of etanercept treatment on the T-helper cells subsets (including Th1, Th2, Th17) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).


METHODS
20 RA patients and 10 age-matched healthy people were studied. The expression of IL-4, IFN-gamma and IL-17 on lymphocyte(CD4(+)) of RA patients peripheral blood were assessed by flow cytometry; Production of IFN-gamma, IL-4 and IL-17 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)in RA sera pre- and post-12 weeks of therapy and that of 10 normal health controls were studied; correlations between percentage of IFN-gamma Th1, IL-17(+)Th17, value of Th1/Th2 and clinical factors were observed in RA.


RESULTS
The percentage of Th1 and Th17, intensity of Th17 and value of Th1/Th2 were higher than the healthy controls (P<0.05); After etanercept treatment the percentage and intensity of Th17 were significantly decreased (P<0.01), as well as the percentage of Th1 and value of Th1/Th2 (P<0.05), level of IL-17 decreased significantly but IFN-gamma, IL-4 had no significant difference; The percentage of IL-17(+)Th17 on CD4(+) T cells correlate positively to CRP and DAS28.


CONCLUSIONS
Th17 cells may play a role in the pathogenesis of RA, the down regulation of Th17 and Th1/Th2 is significant for the evaluation of the curative effect of etanercept.
Lu
Ting-ting
TT
Department of Clinic Immunology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China. tinglvnmg@163.com
Zhu
Ping
P
Li
Xiao-yan
XY
Fan
Chun-mei
CM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000068800:Etanercept; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000097:blood; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000473:pathology
D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D020381:Interleukin-17; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D000068800:Etanercept