TNFα Promotes Th17 Cell Differentiation through IL-6 and IL-1β Produced by Monocytes in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Figure 3

Enhanced Th17 cell differentiation by IL-6, IL-1β, and TNFα in synovial fluid through the STAT3 and RORC pathway. (a) PBMC preparations from healthy individuals were stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 antibodies in the presence of the RA SF at dilution of 1 : 8 pretreated with indicated antibodies and mRNA abundance of RORC was determined by real-time PCR after 18 h culture. Bars show the mean ± SEM. versus IgG control. (b and c) PBMC preparations from healthy individuals were stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 antibodies in the presence of RA SF pretreated with indicated antibodies for 24 h. The p-STAT3 and STAT3 levels were detected by western blot (b), or the p-STAT3 expression was analyzed by flow cytometry gated on CD4⁺ T cells (c). Data are representative of at least five separated experiments.

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