Concomitant Treatment with Etanercept and Tacrolimus Synergistically Attenuates Arthritis Progression via Inhibition of Matrix Metalloproteinase-3 Production and Osteoclastogenesis in Human TNF-α Transgenic Mice

Figure 3

Etanercept increases the number of peripheral B220⁻CD4⁺CXCR5⁺PD-1⁺ Tfh cells in hTNF-Tg mice. Etanercept (ETN; 4 mg/kg) was administered subcutaneously twice a week for 4 weeks, and tacrolimus (TAC; 3 mg/kg) was administered orally once daily for 4 weeks. (a) Percentages of ZombieNIR-negative B220⁻CD4⁺CXCR5⁺PD-1⁺ cells in splenocytes derived from individual mice are shown. Each horizontal bar shows the mean of six animals per group. and (Steel’s test) compared with the vehicle group. (b) Representative plots of each drug treatment group are shown. Data are representative of two independent experiments.

(a)

(b)