The interleukin‐1 receptor in normal and osteoarthritic human articular chondrocytes. Identification as the type I receptor and analysis of binding kinetics and biologic function

These results indicate that OA chondrocytes have a higher sensitivity to the stimulation of metalloprotease synthesis by IL-1 than do normal cells. This could be related to the increased levels of IL-1R expressed in the OA cells. The implications of these findings with regard to the possible roles of IL-1 and IL-1R in the pathogenesis of OA are discussed.