Synovial fibroblasts recall murine arthritis upon psychological stress in an IL-6 dependent manner

However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which psychological stress flares tissue inflammation during the remission state remain unclear. In this study, we show that psychological stress flares joint inflammation in experimental arthritis-induced mice in remission.

We found that IL-6 is required for this process. Additionally, we found that synovial fibroblasts expressing fibroblast activation protein expressed high levels of gp130, a signal transducer protein of IL-6. IL-6 stimulation subsequently induced the production of chemokines, such as CXCL1 and CXCL12.