Author(s): REN Jie, ZHOU Yi, WU Huixia, ZHU Lihua, DAI Taoli, Department of Rheumatology, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Medical Biotechnology Research and Development Center of Jinan University
Pages: 17-21
Year: 2015 Issue:  1
Journal: Immunological Journal
Keyword:  Rheumatoid arthritis; NKp44+natural killer cells; Interlukin-22; Signal transduction and activator of transcription 3;
Abstract: This study designed to explore the role of NKp44+NK cells from rheumatoid arthritis(RA) patients in the proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes(FLS). Firstly, NKp44+NK cells in RA synovial fluid(SF) were sorted by flow cytometry and the level of IL-22 in the supernatant of culture solution was measured by ELISA.Furthermore, the proliferation of FLS cocultured with the culture supernatant of NKp44+NK cells was detected by MTT method. Simultaneously, the proliferation of FLS treated with rh IL-22, IL-22 antibody or AG490 was also observed. RT-PCR was used to detect the level of Stat3 m RNA, and Western blot was used to detect the levels of Stat3 and p-Stat3 proteins of FLS. Data showed NKp44+NK cells can produce high concentration of IL-22 and induce the proliferation of RA FLS. IL-22 antibody and AG490 obviously inhibited the proliferation of RA FLS induced by NKp44+NK cells. AG490 suppressed the Stat3 and p-Stat3 expressions of RA FLS induced by rh IL-22.In conclusion, NKp44+NK cells can produce high concentration of IL-22 and furthermore induce the proliferation of RA FLS through Stat3 signal pathway.