Interleukin-17 regulates the proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes of rheumatoid arthritis through signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 signaling / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the effect of interleukin (IL)-17 on the proliferation of fibroblastlike synoviocytes (FLSs) from rheumatoid arthritis (RA)patients and to investigate whether signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was implicated in this process.Methods FLSs were acquired by primary culturing from RA patients.STAT3,p-STAT3,Bcl-2 and Bax expression in FLSs were determined using western blotting analysis.The proliferation of FLSs was determined by MTT assay.Analysis of variance was used to determine the differences between two groups.Results IL-17 promoted the proliferation of FLSs from RA patients and inhibited their apoptosis.The pro-apoptotic Bax was decreased and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was increased in FLSs from RA (t=2.612,P＜0.05;t=2.723,P＜0.05).However,targeted silencing of STAT3 could inhibit the effect of IL-17 on FLSs (t=2.745,P＜0.05).[the control groupBax (3.814±1.623),Bcl-2 (1.429± 0.311);IL-17 groupBax (0.972±0.017),Bcl-2 (3.175±1.356);STAT3 silent groupBax (5.729±1.236),Bcl-2 (0.637±0.006)].Conclusion STAT3 is critical in IL-17-induced proliferation of FLS from RA patients.IL-17/STAT3 pathway might be a good candidate for RA treatment modalities.