You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Review
Cellular targets of interleukin-18 in rheumatoid arthritis
  1. Sheng-Ming Dai1,
  2. Zheng-Zheng Shan1,
  3. Huji Xu2,
  4. Kusuki Nishioka3
  1. 1
    Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China
  2. 2
    Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China
  3. 3
    Department of Bioregulation, Institute of Medical Science, St Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan
  1. Dr Sheng-Ming Dai, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, 174 Changhai Road, Shanghai 200433, P R China; dsm{at}medmail.com.cn

Abstract

Recent data are presented which indicate a critical role for interleukin (IL)-18 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The T cells and macrophages invading the synovium or in the synovial fluid are the chief cellular targets of IL-18 in RA. Neutrophils, dendritic cells and endothelial cells may also be cellular mediators of IL-18. The direct effect of IL-18 on fibroblast-like synoviocytes or chondrocytes may not be essential or important. In RA, IL-18, which is mainly produced by macrophages, activates T cells and macrophages to produce proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules and RANKL which, in turn, perpetuate chronic inflammation and induce bone and cartilage destruction.

https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.2006.067793

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Competing interests: None declared.

    • This study was supported in part by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30672112) and Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program (No. 06PJ14121).

    • Abbreviations:
      CIA
      collagen induced arthritis
      DC
      dendritic cell
      GM-CSF
      granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor
      ICAM-1
      intercellular adhesion molecule-1
      IFNγ
      interferon γ
      IL
      interleukin
      IL-18BP
      IL-18 binding protein
      IL-18R
      IL-18 receptor
      MCP-1
      monocyte chemotactic protein-1
      MIP-1α
      macrophage inflammatory protein-1α
      MMP
      metalloproteinase
      NK
      natural killer
      OA
      osteoarthritis
      RA
      rheumatoid arthritis
      RANKL, receptor activator of NFκB ligand; SCW
      streptococcal cell wall
      TLR
      Toll-like receptor
      TNF
      tumour necrosis factor
      VCAM-1
      vascular cell adhesion molecule-1