Figure 5

Serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. A, At both 7 and 20 days after booster, and onset of CIA, TNFα levels were raised significantly in mice receiving vehicle alone (PBS) compared to pre-CIA control levels. TNFα levels were also elevated in mice treated with BALB/c MSCs at seven days. At day 20 TNFα levels were significantly suppressed only in DBA/1 treated mice compared to the PBS group. B, IFNγ levels were elevated in mice treated with any strain of MSC at seven days compared to pre-CIA controls. At 20 days there was a trend towards elevated IFNγ levels in all groups but this did not reach statistical significance. C, At seven days IL-1β was elevated in all groups, P <0.05 (2-way ANOVA). At 20 days elevated levels persisted in mice treated with allogeneic MSCs; this was significant compared to groups treated with either PBS vehicle or syngeneic MSCs, P <0.05 (2-way ANOVA). D, IL-17 levels were significantly elevated on day seven in all treatment groups. By day 20, IL-17 levels were significantly raised only in vehicle treated mice and those treated with fully MHC mismatched allogeneic MSCs (BALB/c). The level of IL-17 in mice treated with syngeneic MSCs was significantly lower at day 20 than all other treatment groups at this timepoint and also when compared to DBA/1 treated mice at day seven, P <0.05 (2-way ANOVA). E, At day seven there was an increase in IL-10 levels in all groups treated with MSCs compared to untreated controls. This effect was not seen at day 20. There were 12 mice per treatment group and all measurements were assayed in triplicate, * P <0.05 (2-way ANOVA). Data represents mean ± standard deviation. ANOVA, analysis of variance; CIA, collagen induced arthritis; IFNγ, interferon gamma; IL-1β, interleukin 1 beta; IL-10, interleukin10; IL-17, interleukin 17; MHC, major histocompatibility complex; MSC, mesenchymal stem cells; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; TNFα, tumor necrosis factor alpha.