类风湿关节炎（RA）是一种炎性自身免疫性疾病，全球约有1%的人口受其影响。细胞因子在RA的发病机制中起着关键作用。本研究的目的是比较甲氨蝶呤（MTX）治疗组与MTX未治疗组、MTX治疗组与健康对照组、MTX未治疗组与健康对照组之间的血清细胞因子谱。采用酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）试剂盒来定量80例RA患者（48例MTX治疗组和32例MTX未治疗组）和80例健康对照组的血清肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）、白细胞介素（IL）-1β、IL-17、IL-6、干扰素-γ（IFN-γ）和IL-10的浓度。对于所有细胞因子的测定，使用微孔板阅读器（Bio-Rad）在450 nm波长处测量吸光度。采用SPSS 25版本的独立样本t检验比较研究组之间的血清细胞因子浓度。与MTX未治疗的RA患者相比，MTX治疗组的血清TNF-α（36.13 ± 17.64比45.82 ± 23.07，*P = 0.037），IL-17（307.85 ± 151.74比435.42 ± 241.19，**P = 0.006）和IFN-γ（414.93 ± 212.13比527.15 ± 269.61，*P = 0.041）水平显著降低。MTX治疗组和MTX未治疗组的血清TNF-α、IL-1β、IL-17、IL-6、IFN-γ和IL-10水平与健康对照组相比均显著升高（***P < 0.001）。血清某些关键细胞因子（如TNF-α、IL-17和IFN-γ）的降调表明MTX对RA患者具有抗炎效果。

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune illness affecting around 1% of the population globally. Cytokines have a crucial role in the pathogenesis of RA. The objectives of the present study were to compare the serum cytokine profiles between methotrexate (MTX)-treated and MTX-naive RA patient groups, MTX-treated RA patient group and healthy controls, and MTX-naive RA patient group and healthy controls. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to quantify the serum concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-17, IL-6, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), and IL-10 in 80 RA patients (48 MTX treated and 32 MTX naive) and 80 healthy controls. For all cytokine assays, absorbance was measured at 450 nm using a microplate reader (Bio-Rad). Independent sample t-test was used to compare the serum cytokine concentrations between the study groups using SPSS version 25. MTX-treated RA patient group had significantly reduced serum levels of TNF-α (36.13 ± 17.64 versus 45.82 ± 23.07, *P = 0.037), IL-17 (307.85 ± 151.74 versus 435.42 ± 241.19, **P = 0.006), and IFN-γ (414.93 ± 212.13 versus 527.15 ± 269.61, *P = 0.041) compared to MTX-naive RA patients. Both MTX-treated and MTX-naive RA patient groups had significantly high serum levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-17, IL-6, IFN-γ, and IL-10 when compared to healthy controls (***P < 0.001). Downregulation of the serum concentrations of certain key cytokines, viz. TNF-α, IL-17, and IFN-γ, demonstrates the anti-inflammatory effect of MTX in RA patients.