Differences of IL-1β Receptors Expression by Immunocompetent Cells Subsets in Rheumatoid Arthritis

TL;DR

This study examines how immune cells in rheumatoid arthritis patients express receptors for IL-1β, a key inflammation driver, and how this changes with therapy.

Contribution

The study reveals distinct patterns of IL-1β receptor expression across immune cell subsets in RA patients and healthy individuals.

Findings

IL-1β receptor expression varies among T cells, B cells, and monocytes in RA patients and healthy individuals.

Both the percentage of receptor-positive cells and receptor density change with therapy and health status.

These findings emphasize the need to assess both receptor prevalence and density for understanding immune responses.

Abstract

IL-1β is involved in the induction and maintenance of chronic inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Its activity is regulated and induced by soluble and membrane-bound receptors, respectively. The effectiveness of the cytokine depends not only on the percentage of receptor-positive cells in an immunocompetent subset but also on the density of receptor expression. The objective of this study was to investigate the expression of IL-1β membrane-bound receptors (IL-1R1 and IL-1R2) in terms of the percentage of receptor-positive cells and the number of receptors per cell in different subsets of immune cells in RA patients before and after a course of basic (excluding anticytokine) therapy and in healthy individuals. The resulting data indicate differences in the expression of IL-1β receptors among T cells, B cells, and monocytes in healthy volunteers and in rheumatoid arthritis patients. The importance of determining both the relative percentage of cells expressing receptors to immunomodulatory cytokines and the number of membrane-bound receptors per cell is highlighted by evidence of unidirectional or multidirectional changing of these parameters according to cell subset and health status.

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