Backgroud Interleukin 1β(IL-1 β)is the principal mediator in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthdtis.Continuous injection of interleukin 1β(IL-1β)into the knee articular cavities of anamals can induce models that resemble rheumatoid arthritis.The obiective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of local recombinant retrovirus viral intedeukin 10(rRV-vIL-10)gene transfer treatment of a rabbit model of arthritis induced by IL-1β.Methods An hIL-1β-induced rabbit rheumatoid arthdtis model was established using the MFG-hIL-1β-neo-HIG-82 cell line,which is capable of continuous secretion of hIL-1a.After transfecting the rabbit synovial fibroblast cell line (MFG-hIL-1β-neo-HIG-82)with rRV-vIL-10,G418 was then added to identify the positive clone.The rRV-vIL-10 positive clone was injected into the established rabbit rheumatoid arthritis model through intra-articular injection.Successful gene transfer was determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)and immunohistochemistry.The levels of IL-1β before and after treatment were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results Retrovirus vector was an effective vector both to synoviocytes in vitro and synovium tissue in vivo as confirmed by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.The rabbit arthritis model treated with rRV-vIL-10 showed a dramatic remission of arthritis and a decline in the level of cytokines such as IL-1β.Conclusions Retrovirus-mediated transfection of vIL-10 successfully transferred the gene into rabbit syrnovium ex vivo and was able to suppress intra-articular inflammation response to IL-1β.