Cj. Heijnen et al., FUNCTIONAL ALPHA-1-ADRENERGIC RECEPTORS ON LEUKOCYTES OF PATIENTS WITH POLYARTICULAR JUVENILE RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS, Journal of neuroimmunology, 71(1-2), 1996, pp. 223-226
During the last decade it has been shown that the central nervous syst
em can influence the immune system. In healthy individuals, catecholam
ines can inhibit the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines like int
erleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) via inte
raction with beta 2-adrenergic receptors. in contrast, we show here th
at catecholamines can stimulate the production of the interleukin-6 (I
L-6) in children with the chronic inflammatory disease polyarticular j
uvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). The induction of IL-6 is mediated
by triggering of alpha 1-adrenergic receptors on peripheral blood leuc
ocytes of the patients with polyarticular JRA. Functional alpha 1-adre
nergic receptors are absent on leukocytes of normal donors and on leuk
ocytes of patients with the oligoarticular form of the disease.