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.
Keywords: CysLT1 antagonist; IL-17A; Immune response; Immunity; Immunology and Microbiology Section; collagen-induced arthritis; cysteinyl leukotrienes; montelukast.