Tumor necrosis factor and norepinephrine lower the levels of human neutrophil peptides 1-3 secretion by mixed synovial tissue cultures in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Introduction: Neutrophils and monocytes play an important role in overt inflammation in chronic inflammatory joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) inhibits many neutrophil/monocyte functions and macrophage tumor necrosis factor (TNF), but because of the loss of sympathetic nerve fibers in inflamed tissue, sympathetic control is attenuated. In this study, we focused on noradrenergic and TNF regulation of human neutrophil peptides 1-3 (HNP1-3), which are proinflammatory bactericidal alpha-defensins.

Cell culture and passaging alters gene expression pattern and proliferation rate in rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts.

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASF) are key players in synovial pathophysiology and are therefore examined extensively in various experimental approaches. We evaluated, whether passaging during culture and freezing has effects on gene expression and cell proliferation.

Methods: RASF were passaged for up to 8 passages.