IL-8/NAP-1 is the major T-cell chemoattractant in synovial tissues of rheumatoid arthritis.

T-cell infiltration into synovium is a crucial process for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To investigate the mechanism of T-cell infiltration, we studied T-cell attracting activity in synovial tissue extracts of RA or osteoarthritis (OA) whose synovium lacks T-cell accumulation. RA extracts attracted twofold more T cells than OA extracts. By gel filtration column chromatography the activity of RA extracts was separated into two peaks; one was eluted at the 67-kDa region and the other was at the 12-kDa region, while the latter was absent in OA extracts. The activity eluted at the 12-kDa region was absorbed mostly by an antibody against IL-8/NAP-1, a potent T-cell chemotactic factor. IL-8/NAP-1 concentrations in RA extracts were much higher than those in OA extracts and correlated to T-cell attracting activity eluted at the 12-kDa region. The checkerboard analysis revealed that the 67-kDa activity was chemokinetic but not chemotactic. These results suggest that IL-8/NAP-1 is the major T-cell chemoattractant in RA-synovium.