Expression and clinical significance of interleukin-22 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis / 中国免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the expression of IL-22 in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis,and to define the clinical sig-nificance of IL-22 cells for RA. Methods: A total of 50 RA patients, 15 OA patients and 15 healthy controls were enrolled. The proportion of Th22 cells in peripheral blood and synovial fluid( SF) of RA patients was detected by flow cytometry;the levels of IL-22 in serum and synovial fluid of RA patients were detected by ELISA. The clinical parameters of disease activity were assessed including ESR,RF,CRP,DAS28,anti CCP and the degree of bone erosions determined by X-rays. Pearson correlation analysis,t test and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used for statistical analysis. Results:The proportion of Th22 cells in RA patients was higher than that of OA patients (t=2. 290 ,P=0. 021) and healthy controls(t=2. 524,P=0. 015). IL-22 levels in RA patients were higher than that of OA patients (t=2. 560,P=0. 014) and healthy controls(t=2. 768,P=0. 009). IL-22 in the RF positive group were higher than that of RF negative group(t=2. 322,P=0. 035). IL-22 in the anti-CCP antibody positive group were higher than that of anti-CCP antibody negative group (t=2. 504,P=0. 015). The levels of IL-22 were correlated positively with ESR,RF,DAS28(r=0. 312,0. 314,0. 332,P χ20.05(3),P<0. 05). Serum IL-22 levels in the RA patients with joint effusion were higher than that of without(t=2. 587,P=0. 012). The levels of IL-22 in SF were higher than that in serum(t=2. 668,P=0. 011),and had no correlation with the proportion of Th22 cells in SF. Conclusion: The expression of IL-22 in serum and joint effusion of RA patients increase. The level of IL-22 may be useful marker for assessment of disease activity and finding of bone erosions. Therapeutic targeting of IL-22 may be valuable for the intervention of RA.