Introduction
Materials and methods
Patients
Parameter | RA patients (n = 8) | AC patients (n = 3) |
---|---|---|
Age (years) | 58 (34–69) | 56 (49–68) |
Sex (no. of males/females) | 4/4 | 3/0 |
Disease duration (months) | 60 (4–360) | 2 (1–12) |
Rheumatoid factor | 7 positive; 1 negative | 1 positive; 2 negative |
Tender joint count | 9 (5–15) | 1 (1–2) |
Swollen joint count | 11 (5–19) | 2 (1–23) |
ESR (mm/h) | 46 (25–69) | 38 (28–43) |
Erosive disease | 6 positive; 2 negative | None |
No. of DMARDs | 4.5 (1–5) | 0 |
Leukocytes in SF (109/l) | 6.3 (4.5–7.0) | 4.3 (4.2–4.5) |
CRP (mg/l) | 34 (8–97) | 4 (<3–26) |
Reagents and assays
Collection of the synovial biopsy and culture of FLS
Collection of synovial fluid and blood samples
Microparticle isolation
Incubation of FLS with microparticles
Flow-cytometric analysis
Statistical analysis
Results
Cellular origin of synovial microparticles
Origin | mAb | Synovial fluid |
---|---|---|
CD4+ cells | CD4 | 191 (<10–711) |
CD8+ cells | CD8 | <10 (<10–331) |
Monocytic cells | CD14 | 1,315 (57–13,326) |
B-cells | CD20 | <10 (<10–104) |
Platelets | CD61 | <10 (<10–17) |
Erythrocytes | Glycophorin A | <10 (<10–3,104) |
Granulocytes | CD66e | 2,380 (<10–20,864) |
Synovial microparticles stimulate FLS
Mediator | Control | P* | MP-free synovial fluid | MP (1×) | Nx/Nt |
P
†
| MP (3×) | Nx/Nt |
P
‡
| |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unstimulated | IL-1β | |||||||||
MCP-1 (pg/ml) | 456 | 4,754 | 0.001 | 469 | 488 | 6/11 | 0.010 | 900 | 4/6 | 0.156 |
(355–1,292) | (2,492–6,081) | (293–1,241) | (338–1,481) | higher | (346–2,326) | higher | ||||
sICAM-1 (ng/ml) | 0.09 | 0.40 | 0.007 | 1.04 | 2.00 | 8/11 | 0.010 | 6.07 | 6/6 | 0.031 |
(0–0.3) | (0–0.76) | (0.34–1.84) | (0.35–4.07) | higher | (0.91–11.75) | higher | ||||
IL-8 (pg/ml) | 0 | 8,642 | 0.001 | 26 | 301 | 5/11 | 0.008 | 790 | 6/6 | 0.031 |
(0–564) | (2,954–18,330) | (0–528) | (0–707) | higher | (0–2,100) | higher | ||||
IL-6 (pg/ml) | 74 | 4949 | 0.001 | 110 | 136 | 7/11 | 0.042 | 436 | 6/6 | 0.031 |
(24–1,710) | (1,870–22,797) | (30–1,176) | (34–1,937) | higher | (44–3,766) | higher | ||||
VEGF (pg/ml) | 48 | 79 | 0.014 | 34 | 74 | 10/11 | 0.001 | 111 | 6/6 | 0.078 |
(11–102) | (7–141) | (1–97) | (28–138) | higher | (27–161) | higher | ||||
GM-CSF (pg/ml) | 32 | 53 | 0.004 | 31 | 22 | 10/11 | 0.002 | 18 | 6/6 | 0.016 |
(28–40) | (40–72) | (26–70) | (14–43) | lower | (14–25) | lower | ||||
RANTES (pg/ml) | 0 | 138 | 0.001 | 0 | 0.2 | 4/11 | 0.031 | 4.2 | 5/6 | 0.062 |
(0–74) | (46–277) | (0–58) | (0–86) | higher | (0–32) | higher |
Concentrations of MCP-1, IL-6, IL-8, RANTES, sICAM-1, VEGF and GM-CSF in vivo
Mediator | Concentration |
P
| |
---|---|---|---|
Synovial fluid | Plasma | ||
MCP-1 (pg/ml) | 134 (36–522) | 34 (15–62) | 0.008 |
sICAM-1 (ng/ml) | 706 (226–1,085) | 871 (657–1,691) | 0.006 |
IL-8 (pg/ml) | 614 (<50–24,630) | <50 | 0.002 |
IL-6 (pg/ml) | 13,897 (35–43,131) | 11 (0–57) | 0.002 |
VEGF (pg/ml) | 1,604 (528–2,506) | 23 (<5–69) | 0.002 |
RANTES (pg/ml) | 7 (<5–35) | 3,986 (2,920–10,037) | 0.001 |
GM-CSF (pg/ml) | <2 (<2–39) | <2 (<2–28) | 0.125 |