IL-11

Press Release, (quoted):

IL-11 has important immunoregulatory role in rheumatoid arthritis

WESTPORT, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Data from a UK study indicate that endogenous interleukin 11 (IL-11) has an inhibitory effect on production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in rheumatoid arthritis, and that the therapeutic potential of exogenous IL-11 is worth studying.

Dr. Fionula M. Brennan, of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, in London, and colleagues there and at the University of Birmingham analyzed cell cultures of synovial membrane tissue obtained from patients with rheumatoid arthritis who had undergone joint replacement surgery.

The researchers found IL-11 in rheumatoid synovial membrane cultures. Blocking IL-11 resulted in a twofold increase in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in the cell cultures, Dr. Brennan's team reports in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Adding exogenous IL-11, even in high concentrations, did not inhibit TNF-alpha production any further. "However, in the presence of a recombinant IgG-IL-11 receptor chimeric protein, TNF-alpha production was down-regulated," the investigators report. They infer that "...the IL-11 receptor [alpha-chain] was the limiting factor for the immunoregulatory activity of IL-11.

" The researchers also found that exogenous IL-11 reduced the production of matrix metalloproteinase and increased the production of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases, type 1, in rheumatoid synovial tissue.

Dr. Brennan's group concludes that "...IL-11 is an important endogenous immunoregulatory cytokine..." and that "...exogenous IL-11, which is active in animal models, is a potential candidate for clinical evaluation in the therapy of [rheumatoid arthritis.]"

Arthritis Rheum 1998;41:1388-1397.