CysLT1 receptor antagonist alleviates pathogenesis of collagen-induced arthritis mouse model

// Minwen Xu 1 , Ruiyun Hong 1 , Xiaoli Zhang 2 , Hailin Zou 2 , Yi Zhang 2 , Zhiping Hou 2 and Liefeng Wang 2 1 First Affiliated Hospital, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China 2 Department of Biotechnology, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China Correspondence to: Liefeng Wang, email: // Keywords : collagen-induced arthritis; cysteinyl leukotrienes; CysLT1 antagonist; montelukast; IL-17A; Immunology and Microbiology Section; Immune response; Immunity Received : April 12, 2017 Accepted : November 07, 2017 Published : November 26, 2017 Abstract Cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs) play a key role in inflammatory diseases such as asthma and their receptors’ antagonists are currently used as anti-asthmatic drugs. CysLTs have also been found to participate in other inflammatory reactions. Here, we reported that in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) animals model, collagen-induced arthritis, (CIA), CysLT1, a receptor for CysLTs, was up-regulated in hind paw and lymph node, while CysLTs levels in the blood were also higher than normal mice. Montelukast, a drug targeting CysLT1, has been shown to effectively reduce the CIA incidence, peak severity, and cumulative disease scores. Further study indicated that CysLT1 signaling did not affect the differentiation of pathogenic T helper cells. We conclude that montelukast may play important roles in the pathogenesis of CIA, mainly by inducing infiltration of pathogenic T cells, increasing IL-17A secretion and expression of IL-17A, while these effects can be blocked by CysLT1 antagonists. Our findings indicate that antagonist of CysLT1 receptor may be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.