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Targeting interleukin-21 in rheumatoid arthritis

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Abstract

Interleukin-21 (IL-21) is a new member of the type I cytokine superfamily, which binds to a composite receptor that consists of a private receptor (IL-21R) and the common cytokine receptor γ chain. Recently, increasing evidence has shown that IL-21 contributes to the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases because of its pro-inflammatory and immune-mediated properties. IL-21 induced T-cell activation and pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). IL-21R RNA transcripts were found in synovial tissue samples of patients with RA. In addition, blockade of the IL-21/IL-21R pathway ameliorated disease in animal models of RA and significantly inhibited inflammatory cytokine production in vitro. Moreover, IL-21R deficiency in the K/BxN mouse model of inflammatory arthritis was sufficient to block arthritis initiation completely. All theses findings suggest that IL-21 has important biological effects in autoimmunity that might be a promising therapeutic target for RA. In this review, we discuss the biological features of IL-21 and summarize recent advances in the role of IL-21 in the pathogenesis and treatment of RA.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the China National Science Foundation grants no. 30901526 and no. 30873080.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Third Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, Wuxi, 214041, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Feng-Lai Yuan, Wei-Guo Lu, Xia Li, Jian-Ping Li, Rui-Sheng Xu, Cheng-Wan Li & Cheng Jin

  2. Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230601, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Hu

  3. College of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Fei-Hu Chen

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  1. Feng-Lai Yuan
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Correspondence to Wei-Guo Lu or Fei-Hu Chen.

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Feng-Lai Yuan, Wei-Hu are the authors contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Wei-Guo Lu, Fei-Hu Chen are the authors contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-corresponding author.

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Yuan, FL., Hu, W., Lu, WG. et al. Targeting interleukin-21 in rheumatoid arthritis. Mol Biol Rep 38, 1717–1721 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-010-0285-x

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