IL1B and rheumatoid arthritis: Figure 3(), represents cytokine gene expression levels (normalization was performed to GAPDH and medium control was considered as 1). In accordance with the expression pattern of the proinflammatory TNF-α and IL-1β, incubation of Cit-ME with PBMC of RA patients resulted in a significant downregulation in IL-6, IL-8, and CCL-3 gene expression as compared to incubation with medium alone (p < 0.02). However, the control peptide Non-Cit-ME could also downregulate significantly the IL-6 expression (p < 0.02) as compared to medium control.