• Molecules and Cells
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.180-184
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• 2005

IL-17 is a major proinflammatory cytokine secreted by activated T-lymphocytes that accumulates in the inflamed joints of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Additional IL-17-related molecules and their receptors have been discovered and may also contribute to RA pathogenesis. We examined the expression of the prototypic IL-17 (IL-17A) and its homologs, IL-17B-F, by RT-PCR analyses of synovial fluid mononuclear cells (SFMCs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from RA patients. We also tested for induction of the IL-17 receptor homologs upon stimulation of the fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) of RA patients with IL-17. The patients' SFMCs expressed IL-17C, E and F in addition to IL-17A. As in the case of IL-17, IL-15 appears to be the major inducer of these homologs in RA SFMCs. We detected transcripts of IL-17R, as well as those of IL-17RB, C and D, in the FLSs of RA patients. Whereas IL-17R expression increased upon in vitro stimulation with IL-17, expression of IL-17RB, C and D was unchanged. However the possibility of cross-interaction between other IL-17 homologs and receptor isoforms remains to be investigated. Our data suggest that these additional homologs should also be considered as targets for immune modulation in the treatment of RA joint inflammation.

• 한국동물위생학회지
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.309-316
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• 2006

This is a case report on the occurrence of caprine arthritis-encephalitis (CAE) disease among dairy goats in a local farm located in Yeongdong-gun, Chungbuk. Previously, it was reported that the farm experienced intermittent deaths numbering 15 of the 97 goats raised for 5 months. Most of the goats less than 6 months of age were suffering from ataxia and posterior paresis, body tremor and abnormal head posterior. Affected animals frequently had stunted growth and had a rough coat. Goats more than 6 months of age were affected with an insidious, chronic arthritis characterized by articular swelling ('big knee') of the carpal, hock, and stifle joints. Necropsy revealed severely swollen mesenteric lymph nodes, under- flow of 2-3ml synovial fluid in the articular space and fibrous proliferation of synovial membrane. Histopathological examination showed perivascular accumulations of mononuclear inflammatory cells in the white matter of the brain, proliferative synovitis characterized by villous hypertrophy, synovial cell hyperplasia and infiltration by mononuclear inflammatory cells. Pulmonary lesions consists of patchy interstitial pneumonia with hyperplasia of lymphoid tissues and an extensive mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration into the alveolar septa. Confirmation by nested PCR involves amplification of a 296 bp (lst PCR) and 184 bp (2nd PCR) fragments corresponding to the gag region of the CAE virus. This is the first time CAE has been reported in a local farm in Korea and emphasizes the importances of developing preventive measures against CAE.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.29-37
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• 2008

Interleukin-23 (IL-23) is a novel pro-inflammatory cytokine which has been implicated to play a pathogenic role in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study was undertaken to investigate the IL-23 inductive activity of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-17, $IL-1{\beta}$ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-${\alpha}$) in RA synovial fluid mononuclear cells (SFMC). Expression of IL-23p19, IL-17, $IL-1{\beta}$ and TNF-${\alpha}$ in joint was examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) of patients with RA and osteoarthritis (OA). The effects of IL-17 and $IL-1{\beta}$ on expression of IL-23p19 in human SFMC from RA patients were determined by reverse transcriptase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). IL-23p19 was expressed in the RA fibroblast like synoviocyte (FLS), but not from OA FLS. Similar to the protein expression, IL-23p19 mRNA could be detected by RT-PCR in RA SFMC. IL-17 and $IL-1{\beta}$ could induce RA SFMC to produce the IL-23p19. The effects of IL-17 were much stronger than $IL-1{\beta}$ or TNF-${\alpha}$. These responses were observed in a doseresponsive manner. In addition, IL-17 or $IL-1{\beta}$ neutralizing antibody down-regulated the expression of IL-23p19 induced by LPS in RA-SFMC. Our results demonstrate that IL-23p19 is overexpressed in RA synovium and IL-17 and $IL-1{\beta}$ appears to upregulate the expression of IL-23p19 in RA-SFMC.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.106-112
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• 1999

The therapeutic potential of phosphodiesterase 4(PDE4) inhibitors in inflammatory diseases including some autoimmune diseases has been explored recently with some hopeful results. These PDE4 inhibitors are thought to show their anti-inflammatory effect by down-regulating tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-$\alpha$) production in lymphocytes and macrophages. A high concentration of TNF-$\alpha$has been found in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovium and reducing TNF-$\alpha$using biological agents was proven to be an effective RA treatment. To test the possibility of using PDE4 inhibitors for RA treatment, the effects of a newly synthesized PDE4 inhibitor, DWP205505, on TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-10 production was tested in cells isolated from normal peripheral blood and rheumatoid arthritis synovial fluid. Cytokine production was assayed at the protein level by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and at the mRNA expression level by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Another PDE4 inhibitor, RP73401, was used for comparison. DWP205505 and RP73401 had no harmful effect on cell viability up to 10 $\mu$M concentration during the 24 h culture period. DWP205505 as well as RP73401 significantly reduced TNF-$\alpha$ secretion from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pBMC) and synovial fluid mononuclear cells (SFMC). The effect of DWP205505 or RP73401 treatment on the mRNA expression of TNF-$\alpha$ was also studied in LPS-stimulated PBMC and SFMC. TNF-$\alpha$ mRNA expression was increased by LPS stimulation and both of the PDE4 inhibitors suppressed TNF-$\alpha$ mRNA expression. For interleukin-l0 (IL-l0), a little different results were obtained from PBMC and SFMC; IL-l0 secretion was unaffected by LPS stimulation and only minimally affected by both of the PDE4 inhibitors in PBMC. In unstimulated SFMC, DWP205505 and RP73401 slightly enhanced IL-10 secretion, while they reduced IL-l0 secretion from LPS-stimulated SFMC where IL-l0 secretion was a lot higher than unstimulated SFMC. These results suggest that the newly synthesized PDE4 inhibitor DWP205505 may have anti-rheumatoid arthritis activity.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2003

Type II collagen (CII), major component of hyaline cartilage, has been considered as an auto-antigen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the clinical and biological significances with regard to the CII autoimmunity need to be clarified in human RA. The presence of antibodies to CII has been identified in sera, synovial fluid, and cartilage of patients with RA. In our study, the increased titer of IgG anti-CII in sera was well correlated with C-reactive protein, suggesting that this antibody may reflect the inflammatory status of RA. The titer of anti-CII antibodies (anti-CII Abs) tended to be higher in early stages of diseases. In our extending study, among 997 patients with RA, 269 (27.0%) were positive for circulatory IgG antibody to CII, those levels were fluctuated over time. It is hard to assess the significant amount of T cell responses to CII and CII (255~274) in RA. By using a sensitive method of antigen specific mixed lymphocyte culture, we can detect the presence of CII-reactive T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of RA patients. Sixty seven (46.9%) of 143 patients showed positive CII reactive T cell responses to CII or CII (255~274). The frequencies of CII reactive T cells were more prominent in inflamed synovial fluid (SF) than in peripheral blood. These T cells could be clonally expanded after consecutive stimulation of CII with feeding of autologous irradiated antigen presenting cells (APC). Moreover, the production of Th1-related cytokine, such as IFN-${\gamma}$, was strongly up-regulated by CII reactive T cells. These data suggest that T cells responding to CII, which are probably presenting the IFN-${\gamma}$ producing cells, may play an important role in the perpetuation of inflammatory process in RA. To evaluate the effector function of CII reactive T cells, we investigated the effect of CII reactive T cells and fibroblasts-like synoviocytes (FLS) interaction on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. When the CII reactive T cells were co-cultured with FLS, the production of IL-15 and TNF-${\alpha}$ from FLS were significantly increased (2 to 3 fold increase) and this increase was clearly presented in accord to the expansion of CII reactive T cells. In addition, the production of IFN-${\gamma}$ and IL-17, T cell derived cytokines, were also increased by the co-incubation of CII reactive T cells with FLS. We also examined the impact of CII reactive T cells on chemokines production. When FLS were co-cultured with CII stimulated T cells, the production of IL-8, MCP-1, and MIP-1${\alpha}$ were significantly enhanced. The increased production of these chemokines was strongly correlated with increase the frequency of CII reactive T cells. Conclusively, immune response to CII was frequently found in RA. Activated T cells in response to CII contributed to increase the production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which were critical for inflammatory responses in RA. The interaction of CII-reactive T cells with FLS further augmented this phenomenon. Taken together, our recent studies have suggested that autoimmunity to CII could play a crucial role not only in the initiation but amplification/perpetuation of inflammatory process in human RA.

• 한국임상수의학회지
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.443-449
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• 2000

A three-year-old male jindo with generalized skin lesions (including seborrhea, hyperk- eratosis, alopecia, papules, and ecchymoses), pruritus lymph node enlargement, and fever was brought to Veterinary Teaching Hospital, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National Uni- versity. There were no laboratory findings for parasites and fungi in the hair and skin But, the com- plete blood counts (CBC) showed leukocytosis and severe cosinophilia, It was suspected to be an inflammatory and allergic dermatitis. Thus, prednisoIone (0.5 mg/kg PO, BID for 1 week) and ampi- cillin (10 mg/kg PO, BID for 1 week given. One week later, pruritus and ecchymoses were reduced. These treatments were repeated for 7 day again. Three months later, the dog was presented again due to the relapse and exacerbation of the clinical signs. The signs were as follows; severe pru- ritus, vesicobullous skin lesions, anorexia, emaciation, lameness, and welling of carpal joints that showed inflammatory skin lesion and draining of synovia-like fluid. The values of WBC counts were returned to normal ranges. In contrast, eosinophilia was still observed. Coombs test for patient RBC and serum were negative. Hypoalbuminemia (2.5g/dl) was shown by serum chemistry. The uri- nalysis revealed and presence of leukocytes. Luxation finding of right radial carpal joint by polyarthritis was shown in radiography of affected joints.Lupus eryhematosus(LE) cells also appeared in peripheral blood and synovial fluid of affected joints. Definitely, antinuclear antibody (ANA) of patient serum using feline peripheral blood mononuclear cells was detected by all immu- nofluorescence. Based on these findings such as sedum ANA-Positive. major signs (skin disease, non- erosive polyarthritis with soft tissue swelling. and proteinuria), minor signs (fever), and LE cell-pos- itive, a diagnosis of systemic lupus crythematosus (SLE) was mad\ulcorner in this dog. The dog with SLE was administered with Pre(2.0 mg/kg PO, BID for first 4 week and then QOD) to inhibit the production of autoantibodies and with ampicillin (10 mg/kg PO, BID for first 4 weeks and then QOD) to prevent the secondary infection. The condition of this dog was monitored every 2 weeks by physical examinations, radiography, CBC, serum chemistry and urinalyais. At 8th week of treat- ment, the state of SLE evaluated by physical examinations and laboratory findings was markedly improved except for proteinura.