Drug screening and identification of key candidate genes and pathways of rheumatoid arthritis.

Drug screening and identification of key candidate genes and pathways of rheumatoid arthritis. Mol Med Rep. 2020 May 21;: Authors: Shi YQ, Qi WF, Kong CY Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which normally manifests as a multi‑joint inflammatory reaction, is a common immunological disease in clinical practice. However, the pathogenesis of RA has not yet been fully elucidated. Rituximab (RTX) is an effective drug in the treatment of RA, however its therapeutic efficacy and mechanism of action require further investigation. Thus, the present study aimed to screen the candidate key regulatory genes and explain the potential mechanisms of RA. Gene chips of RA and normal joint tissues were analyzed and, gene chips of RTX before and after treatment were investigated. In the present study, strong evidence supporting the pathogenesis of RA and mechanism of action of RTX were also revealed. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed using the limma package of RStudio software. A total of 1,150 DEGs were detected in RA compared with normal joint tissues. The upregulated genes were enriched in 'interleukin‑12 production', 'I‑κB kinase/NF‑κB signaling', 'regulation of cytokine production involved in immune response' and 'cytokine metabolic process'. Functional enrichment analysis showed that RTX was primarily involved in the inhibition of 'adaptive immune response', 'B cell activation involved in immune response' and 'immune e...
Source: Molecular Medicine Reports - Category: Molecular Biology Tags: Mol Med Rep Source Type: research