TY - JOUR T1 - Effect of All-transretinoic Acid on Th17 and T Regulatory Cell Subsets in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol DO - 10.3899/jrheum.121100 SP - jrheum.121100 AU - Katayoon Bidad AU - Eisa Salehi AU - Ahmadreza Jamshidi AU - Ali Akbar Saboor-Yaraghi AU - Mona Oraei AU - Alipasha Meysamie AU - Mahdi Mahmoudi AU - Mohammad Hossein Nicknam Y1 - 2013/03/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2013/02/26/jrheum.121100.abstract N2 - Objective We compared Th17 and T regulatory cells in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and in healthy controls. The effect of all-transretinoic acid (ATRA) was studied on cultured CD4+ T cells of patients with AS compared to controls. Methods Eighteen patients with AS and 18 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included. CD4+ T cells were separated and cultured in conditions of anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 stimulation with and without ATRA. Intracellular and secreted cytokines, transcription factors, and gene expression were evaluated after 72 h. Results The frequency of CD4+IL-17+ T cells was significantly higher in patients with AS compared to controls, and ATRA could significantly decrease it. The frequency of forkhead box protein 3 (FOXP3)+ retinoic acid-related orphan receptor γt (RORγt) negative T-bet negative CD4+ cells was significantly lower in cases compared to controls. Intracellular and secreted interferon-γ (IFN-γ) was not significantly different between cases and controls. ATRA significantly increased intracellular IFN-γ in cases but not in controls. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) secretion was significantly higher and interleukin 10 secretion was significantly lower in culture supernatant of cases compared to controls. ATRA could significantly decrease TNF-α secretion in cases. Conclusion Our findings favor a pathogenic role for Th17 cells in AS. Th1 cells did not seem to contribute in the pathogenesis of this disease. The effect of ATRA as an immunomodulator on deviated immune cells was associated with decreased inflammatory markers. This association could be a reason for a clinical trial of ATRA in patients with AS. ER -