Dataset Information

MicroRNA Expression Differences in Blood-Derived CD19+ B Cells of Methotrexate Treated Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients.

ABSTRACT: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a complex disease with a wide range of underlying susceptibility factors. Recently, dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) in RA have been reported in several immune cell types from blood. However, B cells have not been studied in detail yet. Given the autoimmune nature of RA with the presence of autoantibodies, CD19+ B cells are a key cell type in RA pathogenesis and alterations in CD19+ B cell subpopulations have been observed in patient blood. Therefore, we aimed to reveal the global miRNA repertoire and to analyze miRNA expression profile differences in homogenous RA patient phenotypes in blood-derived CD19+ B cells. Small RNA sequencing was performed on CD19+ B cells of newly diagnosed untreated RA patients (n=10), successfully methotrexate (MTX) treated RA patients in remission (MTX treated RA patients, n=18) and healthy controls (n=9). The majority of miRNAs was detected across all phenotypes. However, significant expression differences between MTX treated RA patients and controls were observed for 27 miRNAs, while no significant differences were seen between the newly diagnosed patients and controls. Several of the differentially expressed miRNAs were previously found to be dysregulated in RA including miR-223-3p, miR-486-3p and miR-23a-3p. MiRNA target enrichment analysis, using the differentially expressed miRNAs and miRNA-target interactions from miRTarBase as input, revealed enriched target genes known to play important roles in B cell activation, differentiation and B cell receptor signaling, such as STAT3, PRDM1 and PTEN. Interestingly, many of those genes showed a high degree of correlated expression in CD19+ B cells in contrast to other immune cell types. Our results suggest important regulatory functions of miRNAs in blood-derived CD19+ B cells of MTX treated RA patients and motivate for future studies investigating the interactive mechanisms between miRNA and gene targets, as well as the possible predictive power of miRNAs for RA treatment response.

SUBMITTER: Heinicke F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8062711 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Background: We sought to identify immunoglobin G autoantibodies predictive of early treatment response to methotrexate, the recommended first-line therapy for patients with newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis, and to the interleukin-6 receptor inhibitor biologic tocilizumab, initiated as the first disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug.Materials and methods: In baseline sera of a subset of patients with newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis in the U-Act-Early study, selected based on specific responder/non-responder criteria using the Disease Activity Score assessing 28 joints (DAS28) within the first 20 weeks, we measured immunoglobin G antibody reactivity against 463 protein antigens and performed supervised cluster analysis to identify predictive autoantibodies for treatment response. The analysis subset comprised 56 patients in the methotrexate arm (22 responders, 34 non-responders) and 50 patients in the tocilizumab arm (34 responders, 16 non-responders). For comparison, these analyses were also performed in 50 age- and gender-matched healthy controls.Results: Increased reactivity in responders versus non-responders was found in the methotrexate arm against two antigens-DOT1-like histone lysine methyltransferase (p = 0.009) and tropomyosin (p = 0.003)-and in the tocilizumab arm against one antigen-neuro-oncological ventral antigen 2 (p = 0.039). Decreased reactivity was detected against two antigens in the methotrexate arm-G1 to S phase transition 2 (p = 0.023) and the zinc finger protein ZPR1 (p = 0.021). Reactivity against the identified antigens was not statistically significant in either treatment arm for patients with rheumatoid factor-positive versus-negative or anti-cyclic citrullinated test-positive versus test-negative rheumatoid arthritis (p ? 0.06).Conclusions: Comprehensive profiling of baseline sera revealed several novel immunoglobin G autoantibodies associated with early treatment response to methotrexate and to tocilizumab in disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug-naive patients with rheumatoid arthritis. These findings could eventually yield clinically relevant predictive markers, if corroborated in different patient cohorts, and may facilitate future benefit in personalised healthcare.

Project description:IntroductionThe objective of this analysis was to assess disease activity metrics using a variety of disease outcome measures following methotrexate (MTX) withdrawal in ORAL Shift, a phase 3b/4 study of tofacitinib with/without MTX, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) achieving Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI)-defined low disease activity (LDA).MethodsPatients aged ≥ 18 years with active RA and an inadequate response to MTX received open-label tofacitinib modified-release 11 mg once daily plus MTX for 24 weeks. In the double-blind MTX withdrawal phase, those who had achieved CDAI LDA (≤ 10) at week 24 were randomised 1:1 to receive tofacitinib monotherapy or continued tofacitinib plus MTX. Efficacy analyses were performed in subgroups defined by whether remission and/or LDA had been achieved at week 24 with: Disease Activity Score in 28 joints, erythrocyte sedimentation rate [DAS28-4(ESR)], Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3), CDAI and Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI); or DAS28-4[C-reactive protein(CRP)] < 2.4/ < 2.6/ < 2.9/ ≤ 3.2.ResultsFive hundred and thirty patients received treatment in the double-blind MTX withdrawal phase. Proportions of patients achieving each disease activity criterion at week 24 varied by metric. Across disease activity metrics [excluding DAS28-4(ESR) remission], 58-89% of patients per group, and numerically more patients receiving tofacitinib plus MTX, achieved the same criterion at week 48 as at week 24. Differences between groups in least squares mean change from baseline (Δ) DAS28-4(ESR) from week 24-48 favoured tofacitinib plus MTX (nominal p values < 0.05). RAPID3 and DAS28-4(CRP) estimated a higher proportion of patients with acceptable disease state versus DAS28-4(ESR), CDAI remission and SDAI remission.ConclusionResponse rates at the beginning of the double-blind phase varied across metrics. A consistent trend towards higher response rates with tofacitinib plus MTX was observed across metrics after randomisation, with nominal differences in DAS28-4(ESR) responses. Compared with continued combination therapy, MTX withdrawal did not lead to a clinically meaningful reduction in the response to tofacitinib. DAS28-4(CRP) and RAPID3 were the least stringent metrics.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02831855.

Dataset Information

MicroRNA Expression Differences in Blood-Derived CD19+ B Cells of Methotrexate Treated Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets