Abstract
BackgroundDespite recent improvements in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an insufficient treatment response and the development of treatment resistance in many patients illustrates the need for new therapeutic strategies. Chronic synovial inflammation could be suppressed by targeting RA synovial fibroblast (RASF) activation by, for example, interleukin (IL)-17A-producing CCR6+ T helper memory (memTh) cells. Here, we modulated this interaction by combining the active vitamin D metabolite 1,25(OH)2D3 with dexamethasone (DEX) and explored the potential therapeutic applications.MethodsCCR6+ memTh cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of healthy donors or treatment-naive early RA patients were cultured alone or with RASF from established RA patients for 3 days and treated with or without 1,25(OH)2D3, DEX, or etanercept. Treatment effects were assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and flow cytometry.Results1,25(OH)2D3, and to lesser extent DEX, reduced production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-17A, IL-22, and interferon (IFN)γ in CCR6+ memTh cells. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α was only inhibited by the combination of 1,25(OH)2D3 and DEX. In contrast, DEX was the strongest inhibitor of IL-6, IL-8, and tissue-destructive enzymes in RASF. As a result, 1,25(OH)2D3 and DEX additively inhibited inflammatory mediators in CCR6+ memTh-RASF cocultures. Interestingly, low doses of mainly DEX, but also 1,25(OH)2D3, combined with etanercept better suppressed synovial inflammation in this coculture model compared with etanercept alone.ConclusionThis study suggests that 1,25(OH)2D3 and DEX additively inhibit synovial inflammation through targeting predominantly CCR6+ memTh cells and RASF, respectively. Furthermore, low doses of DEX and 1,25(OH)2D3 enhance the effect of TNFα blockade in inhibiting RASF activation, thus providing a basis to improve RA treatment.
Highlights
Despite recent improvements in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an insufficient treatment response and the development of treatment resistance in many patients illustrates the need for new therapeutic strategies
We have previously shown that combining the active vitamin D metabolite 1,25(OH)2D3 with TNFα blockade, a commonly used therapy in RA, additively suppresses the proinflammatory loop between CCR6+ memory T helper (memTh) and RA synovial fibroblast (RASF) [10]
For validation of findings in healthy Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC), RA PBMCs were isolated from treatment-naive RA patients who were embedded in the tREACH study, which was ethically approved by the METC Rotterdam
Summary
Despite recent improvements in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an insufficient treatment response and the development of treatment resistance in many patients illustrates the need for new therapeutic strategies. Chronic synovial inflammation could be suppressed by targeting RA synovial fibroblast (RASF) activation by, for example, interleukin (IL)-17A-producing CCR6+ T helper memory (memTh) cells. Synovial fibroblasts play an important role in this process since they can secrete proinflammatory cytokines that attract and activate immune cells, produce tissue-destructive enzymes, and invade cartilage [2, 3]. How these RA synovial fibroblasts (RASF) are activated is currently unknown, one of the hypotheses is that they are activated by infiltrating immune cells. We have shown that CCR6+, but not CCR6–, memory T helper (memTh) cells can activate RASF [4]
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