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The present study was intended to elucidate the effect of rutin, a flavonoid, on arthritis in complete Freund's adjuvantinduced arthritic rats. The present study showed that more pronounced effect has been observed in the case of 15 mg/kg dose of rutin, with significant reduction in paw diameter together with positive modulation of hematological parameters as compared to 2 other tested doses. A significant upsurge in the level of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione were observed together with decrease in the level of malondialdehyde after treatment with rutin in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the effect of rutin on the tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β in arthritic rats showed does-dependent lowering of these cytokines with maximum benefit at 15 mg/kg dose and the level of both NF-κB p65 and NF-κBp65 (Ser536) has been significantly reduced in the presence of rutin. Histopathological examination showed that the inflammatory cells infiltration, synovial hyperplasia, pannus formation and cartilage and bone erosion had considerably improved on administration of rutin. In conclusion, our paper strongly demonstrated the protective effect of rutin against the rheumatoid arthritis involved via suppression of NF-κB p65 protein expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of a weekly dose of leflunomide (50 mg/week) in early rheumatoid arthritis patients with mild or moderate disease activity. Methods The patients of early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA) with mild or moderate disease activity were randomly selected for inclusion in this study and were assigned to either the treatment group (leflunomide 50 mg/week, LEF50) or the control group (leflunomide 10 mg/day, LEF10). All patients were treated for 24 weeks. Clinical efficacy was assessed using the disease activity score in 28 joints ( DAS28) - erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and European League Against Rheumatism ( EULAR) response. A Chi-squared test, Fisher's exact-test and paired t-tests were used to analyze the data. Results A total of 244 patients who met the inclusion criteria and received at least one medicine dose were analyzed. At the baseline, the DAS28 (ESR) of the ERA patients were 4.41 ± 0.69 in LEF 50 group and 4.52 ± 0.64 in LEF 10 group, respectively. At week 24, the DAS28 (ESR) in two groups ( 2.94 ± 1.10 and 3.02 ± 1.14 ) were significant decreased compare with the baseline, respectively ( P<0.01). There was no significant difference in DAS28 (ESR) between the LEF50 and LEF10 groups at week 24. ( P > 0.05). At weeks 8, 12 and 24, the EULAR response (good responses + moderate responses) were 47.6%, 58.7% and 59.5%, in the LEF50 group and 43.2%, 49.1% and 53.4% in the LEF10 group, respectively. There was no significant different of EULAR response rates in the two groups at week 8, 12, and 24, respectively ( P>0.05). There was no serious adverse events during the study. Conclusion A weekly dose of 50 mg leflunomide showed similar benefits to a daily dose of 10 mg leflunomide for the treatment of mild-to-moderate early rheumatoid arthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of lentivirus-mediated overexpression of the SOCS3 gene on proliferation and apoptosis of fibroblasts-like synoviocytes (FLSs) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A total of 20 Lewis rats were randomly assigned into experimental and normal groups. Rats in the experimental group were modeled with adjuvant arthritisand the normal group was given no treatment. After culture for 28 days, rats in the experimental group were sacrificed, and the third-generation FLSs were collected and randomly allocated into SOCS3 group, control group, and blank group. MTT assay was used for detecting cell viability, flow cytometry was used for analysis ofcell apoptosis, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine levels of inflammatory factors (interleukin [IL]-2, interferon [IFN-γ] and tumor necrosis factor [TNF-α]). MTT assay showed that the optical density of the SOCS3 group was significantly higher than that of the control and blank groups. Flow cytometry showed that the apoptosis rate of FLSs in the SOCS3 group was significantly lower than that in the control and blank groups. The results of ELISA assay showed that the levels of IL-2, IFN-γ and TNF-α in the SOCS3 group were higher than those in the control and blank groups. Our study demonstrates that over-expression of SOCS3 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of FLSs in RA., Competing Interests: None., (IJCEP Copyright © 2018.)

Background: Interleukin-28B (IL-28B) is a member of the interferon lambda family (also known as type III interferons), it has already been studied in many diseases, but it has almost never been studied in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). With this background, we determined the serum levels of IL-28B in RA patients and investigated its clinical significances., Methods: IL-28B levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 80 RA patients and 80 healthy controls. Radiographs were scored for total Sharp score (TSS)., Results: Serum IL-28B levels were significantly lower in the RA than in the control (p = 0.02). Anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies and rheumatoid factor (RF) were negatively correlated with serum IL-28B levels. There was no association between serum IL-28B levels and TSS at baseline, but there was a significant difference in change of IL-28B during 6 months follow up between progressors and non-progressors. The disease activity of RA patients decreased, but no difference was observed in serum IL-28B levels between before and after disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) therapy., Conclusions: These findings indicated a role of IL-28B in RA and it may contribute to avoiding osteoclasia in RA patients.