The pathogenetic mechanisms underlying tendinopathy remain unclear,
with much debate as to whether inflammation or degradation has the prominent
role. Increasing evidence points toward and early inflammatory infiltrate and
associated inflammatory cytokine production in human and animal models of
tendon disease.
The IL-21/IL-21R axis is a proinflammatory cytokine complex that has
been associated with chronic inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid
arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. This project aimed to investigate the
role and expression of the cytokine/receptor pair IL-21/IL-21R in human
tendinopathy.
We found significantly elevated expression of IL-21 receptor message and
protein in human tendon samples but found no convincing evidence of the
presence of IL-21 at message or protein level. The level of expression of IL-21R
message/protein in human tenocytes was significantly up regulated by
proinflammatory cytokines (TNFα/IL-1β) in vitro.
These findings demonstrate that IL-21R is present in early human
tendinopathy mainly expressed by tenocytes and macrophages. Despite a lack of
IL-21 expression these data again suggest that early tendinopathy has an
inflammatory/cytokine phenotype, which may provide novel translational targets
in the treatment of tendinopathy
