Figure 6.

Genes overexpressed at baseline in poor responders are significantly induced by the combination of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in fibroblast-like synovial cells (FLSs). FLSs were cultured overnight in the presence of TNF-α (10 ng/mL), IL-1β (10 ng/mL), IL-6 (10 ng/mL), IL-7 (100 ng/mL), IL-17 (50 ng/mL), or combinations of several of these cytokines. RNA was extracted and real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction evaluation of IL-7R, IL-6, INDO, CDC2, GTSE1, and MKI67 was evaluated in at least four different experiments. Results are expressed as the mean fold change in gene expression and standard error of the mean, relative to the mean gene expression of the baseline condition normalized to 1. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.005, ***P < 0.0005 using Wilcoxon signed rank tests.