Jingyi Li

INTRODUCTION: Increasing evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. The aim of the study was to investigate the expression pattern and function of miRNAs in CD4+ T cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: The expression profile of miRNAs in CD4+ T cells from synovial fluid (SF) and peripheral blood of 33 RA patients was determined by microarray assay and validated by qRT-PCR analysis. The correlation between altered expression of miRNAs and cytokine levels was determined by linear regression analysis. The role of miR-146a overexpression in regulating T cell apoptosis was evaluated by flow cytometry. A genome-wide gene expression analysis was further performed to identify miR-146a-regulated genes in T cells. RESULTS: miRNA expression profile analysis revealed that miR-146a expression was significantly upregulated while miR-363 and miR-498 were downregulated in CD4+ T cells of RA patients. The level of miR-146a expression was positively correlated with levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and in vitro studies showed TNF-alpha upregulated miR-146a expression in T cells. Moreover, miR-146a overexpression was found to suppress Jurkat T cell apoptosis. Finally, transcriptome analysis of miR-146a overexpression in T cells identified Fas associated factor 1 (FAF1) as a miR-146a-regulated gene, which was critically involved in modulating T cell apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: We have detected increased miR-146a in CD4+ T cells of RA patients and its close correlation with TNF-alpha levels. Our findings that miR-146a overexpression suppresses T cell apoptosis indicate a role of miR-146a in RA pathogenesis and provide potential novel therapeutic targets.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by excessive autoantibody production and multi-organ involvement. Although the etiology of SLE still remains unclear, recent studies have characterized several pathogenic B cell subsets and regulatory B cell subsets involved in the pathogenesis of SLE. Among pathogenic B cell subsets, age-associated B cells (ABCs) are a newly identified subset of autoreactive B cells with T-bet-dependent transcriptional programs and unique functional features in SLE. Accumulation of T-bet+ CD11c+ ABCs has been observed in SLE patients and lupus mouse models. In addition, innate-like B cells with the autoreactive B cell receptor (BCR) expression and long-lived plasma cells with persistent autoantibody production contribute to the development of SLE. Moreover, several regulatory B cell subsets with immune suppressive functions have been identified, while the impaired inhibitory effects of regulatory B cells have been indicated in SLE. Thus, further elucidation on the functional features of B cell subsets will provide new insights in understanding lupus pathogenesis and lead to novel therapeutic interventions in the treatment of SLE.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in genetic risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Han Chinese as compared with Europeans. METHODS: A genome-wide association study was conducted in China with 952 patients and 943 controls, and 32 variants were followed up in 2,132 patients and 2,553 controls. A transpopulation meta-analysis with results from a large European RA study was also performed to compare the genetic architecture across the 2 ethnic remote populations. RESULTS: Three non-major histocompatibility complex (non-MHC) loci were identified at the genome-wide significance level, the effect sizes of which were larger in anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-positive patients than in ACPA-negative patients. These included 2 novel variants, rs12617656, located in an intron of DPP4 (odds ratio [OR] 1.56, P = 1.6 × 10(-21) ), and rs12379034, located in the coding region of CDK5RAP2 (OR 1.49, P = 1.1 × 10(-16) ), as well as a variant at the known CCR6 locus, rs1854853 (OR 0.71, P = 6.5 × 10(-15) ). The analysis of ACPA-positive patients versus ACPA-negative patients revealed that rs12617656 at the DPP4 locus showed a strong interaction effect with ACPAs (P = 5.3 × 10(-18) ), and such an interaction was also observed for rs7748270 at the MHC locus (P = 5.9 × 10(-8) ). The transpopulation meta-analysis showed genome-wide overlap and enrichment in association signals across the 2 populations, as confirmed by prediction analysis. CONCLUSION: This study has expanded the list of alleles that confer risk of RA, provided new insight into the pathogenesis of RA, and added empirical evidence to the emerging polygenic nature of complex trait variation driven by common genetic variants.