Abstract
IntroductionIn this study, we analysed the number of IL-17+ cells in facet joints, in the peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) of spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients and compared these results with those of patients with other rheumatic diseases and controls.MethodsImmunohistochemical analysis of IL-17+ cells was performed in facet joints of 33 ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients and compared with data from 20 osteoarthritis (OA) patients. The frequency of IL-17+CD4+ T cells in PB and SF of SpA patients (PB n = 30, SF n = 11), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (PB n = 14, SF n = 7), OA patients (PB n = 10) and healthy controls (PB n = 12) was analysed after stimulation with Staphylococcus aureus Enterotoxin B and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate/ionomycin and quantified by flow cytometry.ResultsIn AS facet joints, the frequency of IL-17-secreting cells was significantly higher than in samples obtained from OA patients (P < 0.001), with a slight predominance of IL-17+ cells among the mononuclear cells (61.5% ± 14.9%) compared to cells with polysegmental nuclei. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that the majority of IL-17+ cells were myeloperoxidase-positive (35.84 ± 13.06/high-power field (HPF) and CD15+ neutrophils (24.25 ± 10.36/HPF), while CD3+ T cells (0.51 ± 0.49/HPF) and AA-1+ mast cells (2.28 ± 1.96/HPF) were less often IL-17-positive. The frequency of IL-17+CD4+ T cells in the PB and SF of SpA patients did not differ significantly compared to RA patients, OA patients or healthy controls.ConclusionsOur data suggest an important role for IL-17 in the inflammatory processes in AS. However, the innate immune pathway might be of greater relevance than the Th17-mediated adaptive immune response.
Highlights
In this study, we analysed the number of IL-17+ cells in facet joints, in the peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) of spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients and compared these results with those of patients with other rheumatic diseases and controls
There was a positive correlation between IL17+ mononuclear cell (MNC) and IL-17+ cells with polysegmental nuclei (PNCs) in both ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients (r = 0.634, P < 0.001) and OA patients (r = 0.991, P < 0.001)
We further addressed the question whether there was a different frequency of IL-17+ T cells in PB or SF
Summary
We analysed the number of IL-17+ cells in facet joints, in the peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) of spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients and compared these results with those of patients with other rheumatic diseases and controls. Spondyloarthritis (SpA) comprises ankylosing spondylitis (AS), reactive arthritis, arthritis/spondylitis with inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis/spondylitis with psoriasis. Inflammatory back pain, a similar pattern of peripheral joint involvement with an asymmetrical. Numerous studies have been published recently investigating the frequency of Th17 cells in the peripheral blood (PB) of SpA patients in comparison to patients with other inflammatory joint diseases and controls. Contradictory results have been reported on the basis of either flow cytometry or ELISA [10,11,12,13]
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