ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effects of simvastatin on the production of interleukin (IL)-17and B-cell activating transcription factor (BATF) in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and healthy individuals.Methods PBMCs were isolated from heparinized blood of healthy donors or RA patients using Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient centrifugation.The cells were stimulated by PMA and ionomycin in the absence or presence of simvastatin or MVA at 37 ℃ 5％CO2.The mRAN level of IL-17,BATF and GAPDH was detected by RT-PCR; the protein level of IL-17 in supernatants was assayed by ELISA kit; and the protein level of BATF was detected by Western Blotting.The comparison between the two groups was carried out by paired-t test and Chi-square test was used for muhi-group comparison.Results PBMCs of healthy donors [(69.2±12.2) vs (8.1±2.2) pg/ml,P＜0.05; (76.6±14.7) vs (10.2±7.2) pg/ml,P＜0.05] and RA patients [(79.6±12.7) vs (15.8±5.8) pg/ml,P＜0.05; (90.3±9.7) vs (12.9±7.9) pg/ml,P＜0.05] were stimulated with PMA and ionomycin to produce high levels of IL-17.After treatment with simvastatin,the expression and secretion level of IL-17 in healthy controls and RA PBMCs were markedly decreased.The inhibition of simvastatin on the production of IL-17 was reversed by mevalonic acid (MVA),but no significant changes of BATF after treating with simvastatin.Conclusion Simvastatin inhibits the production of IL-17 in the PBMCs at gene and protein levels,which is not targeted at suppressing the expression of IL-17 transcription factor BATF.