Accepted Article This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1111/jpi.12560 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. DR CHIH-HSIN TANG (Orcid ID : 0000-0002-7113-8352) Article type : Original Article Melatonin attenuates TNF-α and IL-1β expression in synovial fibroblasts and diminishes cartilage degradation: implications for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis Chien-Chung Huang 1,2 , Chen-Hsiang Chiou 3 , Shan-Chi Liu 4 , Sung-Lin Hu 4,5 , Chen-Ming Su 6 , Chun-Hao Tsai 4,7 , and Chih-Hsin Tang 1,3,4,8,9* 1 Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan 2 Division of Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan 3 Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan 4 School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan 5 Department of Family Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan 6 Department of Biomedical Sciences Laboratory, Affiliated Dongyang Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Dongyang, Zhejiang, China 7 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan 8 Chinese Medicine Research Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan 9 Department of Biotechnology, College of Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan *: Corresponding author Chih-Hsin, Tang, PhD Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; No. 91, Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, Taiwan Tel: (886) 4-22052121 Ext. 7726; Fax: (886) 4-22333641 E-mail: chtang@mail.cmu.edu.tw