Chemokines Mip-1¦Á, Rantes And Ccr5 Expression In Rheumatoid Arthritis And Leflunomide Study

Objective. To investigate the expression of C-C chemokines MIP-1α, RANTES and their receptor CCR5 in the serum, synovial fluid(SF), and synovial tissue of patients with RA, OA as well as normal subjects.Methods. Totally 42 specimens of serum and synovial tissue were obtained from 15 patients with RA, 22 with OA and 5 of normal controls. SFs were obtained from 12 patients with RA and 16 patients with OA. Then we detected antigenic MIP-1α and RANTES in serum, SFs from RA and OA as well as normal subjects by ELISA respectively. The expression of chemokines and their receptor were investigated in synovial tissue by immunohistochemistry, Western Blot and RT-PCR. CD68~+ macrophages and CD43~+ T cells were identified by immunohistochemistry. Correlations with patient clinical data were determined.Results. There were significant differences in the MIP-1α protein production in serum, SFs and synovial tissue as well as mRNA level in synovial tissue in patients with RA, OA and normal subjects. RANTES was higher in SFs from RA than that from OA patients (p<0.01). Antigenic RANTES was immunolocalized to synovial lining cells, sublining macrophages, blood vessels, fibroblasts and lymphocytes. Whereas MIP-1α and CCR5 mainly localized to synovial lining cells and sublining macrophages. The protein expression of RANTES and CCR5 was significantly different in synovial tissue between RA or OA patients and normal subjects (p<0.05). The production of MIP-1α in...