Figure 1

Effects of atorvastatin on receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) expression in fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. FLSs were isolated from three RA patients (patients numbers 1, 2, and 3) and cultured in the presence of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α (20 ng/ml) with or without atorvastatin for 24 hours. RANKL expressions were analyzed with RT-PCR (A), real-time PCR (B), and Western blotting (C). (D) TNF-α induced expression of RANKL mRNA in the FLSs of RA patients. Total RNA was extracted from FLSs cultured in the absence (-) or in the presence (+) of TNF-α (20 ng/ml) for indicated times. Total RNA was analyzed with RT-PCR. Results are representative of three independent experiments.