• Juliana Cruz da Silva, Henrique Ataide Mariz, Laurindo Ferreira da Rocha, Priscilla Stela Santana de Oliveira, Andrea Tavares Dantas, Angela Luzia Branco Pinto Duarte, Ivan da Rocha Pitta, Suely Lins Galdino, and Maira Galdino da Rocha Pitta.
• Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Laboratório de Imunomodulação e Novas Abordagens Terapêuticas, Recife/PE, Brasil.
• Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2013 Jun 1; 68 (6): 766771766-71.

ObjectivesHydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial agent that has been used in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis treatment for many years. Recently, novel mechanisms of action have been proposed, thereby broadening the therapeutic perspective of this medication. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of hydroxychloroquine in T helper 17 (Th17) cytokines in healthy individuals and patients.MethodsEighteen female patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (mean age 39.0±12.9 years) and 13 female patients with rheumatoid arthritis (mean age 51.5±7.7 years) were recruited from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco-Brazil. The patients were included after fulfilling four classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis from the American College of Rheumatology. After being stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin in the absence or presence of different concentrations of hydroxychloroquine, the interleukin 6, 17 and 22 levels were quantified with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in culture supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy individuals and patients.ResultsWe demonstrated that in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy volunteers and in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis patients, there was a significant reduction in the IL-6, IL-17 and IL-22 supernatant levels after adding hydroxychloroquine. CONCLUSIONS Our in vitro results demonstrated that hydroxychloroquine inhibits IL-6, IL-17 and IL-22 production and contributes to a better understanding of the mechanism of action of this medication.

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