Rheumatoid Arthritis-related genes evaluated by DNA microarray

Hiroki Mori*, Keiichiro Nishida**, Tohru Nakanishi*

*Department of Clinical Diagnosis, School of Pharmacy, Shujitsu University

**Department of Human Morphology, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) induces articular destruction by stimulation of osteoclast differentiation and abnormal growth of synovium. DNA microarray data showed that many genes including cluster differentiation antigen and wisp genes are up-regulated in RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes. It can be speculated that wisp genes operate as an activator of fibroblast-like synoviocyte as wisp genes are downstream of the Wnt signaling pathway, which plays a role in activation of RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes. Our in vitro study suggests the relation between the expression of cluster differentiation antigen and synoviolin, an apoptosis inhibitor in fibroblast-like synoviocytes. We will discuss the function of cluster differentiation antigen and its signaling pathway as a potential drug target for RA.