TY - JOUR AU - Liu, Rui AU - Wu, Qian AU - Su, Dinglei AU - Che, Nan AU - Chen, Haifeng AU - Geng, Linyu AU - Chen, Jinyun AU - Chen, Wanjun AU - Li, Xia AU - Sun, Lingyun PY - 2012 DA - 2012/11/23 TI - A regulatory effect of IL-21 on T follicular helper-like cell and B cell in rheumatoid arthritis JO - Arthritis Research & Therapy SP - R255 VL - 14 IS - 6 AB - Interleukin (IL)-21 is a member of type I cytokine family. Recent studies indicate that IL-21 can promote T follicular helper (Tfh) cell differentiation and survival, a specialized T cell subset which provides help for B cell. It can also regulate the activation, proliferation and differentiation of human B cell and immunoglobulin (Ig) production as well as isotype switching of plasma cell. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by auto-antibodies overproduction such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibody, suggesting a pivotal role of Tfh cell and B cell in the pathogenesis of RA. This study aimed to investigate whether IL-21 had a regulatory effect on Tfh cell and B cell in RA. SN - 1478-6354 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/ar4100 DO - 10.1186/ar4100 ID - Liu2012 ER -