Smoking affects the development of rheumatoid arthritis through the IRF4 signaling pathway

LIANG Xin-tong; QIAN Long; CHENG Lin; LI Dong-xu; XU Zhou-zhou

doi:10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2021.08.010

Volume 25 Issue 8

Aug. 2021

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Article Navigation > CHINESE JOURNAL OF DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION > 2021 > 25(8): 923-927,961

LIANG Xin-tong, QIAN Long, CHENG Lin, LI Dong-xu, XU Zhou-zhou. Smoking affects the development of rheumatoid arthritis through the IRF4 signaling pathway[J]. CHINESE JOURNAL OF DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, 2021, 25(8): 923-927,961. doi: 10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2021.08.010

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LIANG Xin-tong, QIAN Long, CHENG Lin, LI Dong-xu, XU Zhou-zhou. Smoking affects the development of rheumatoid arthritis through the IRF4 signaling pathway[J]. CHINESE JOURNAL OF DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, 2021, 25(8): 923-927,961. doi: 10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2021.08.010

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Smoking affects the development of rheumatoid arthritis through the IRF4 signaling pathway

doi: 10.16462/j.cnki.zhjbkz.2021.08.010

Department of Rheumatoid and Immunology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, China

Funds:

Clinical Research Incubation Program of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University 2020LCZD22

Anhui Province 2017 Public Welfare Technology Application Research Linkage Program Project 1704f0804024

More Information

Corresponding author: Qian Long, E-mail: longqian0551@hotmail.com
Received Date: 2020-12-30
Rev Recd Date: 2021-04-02

Available Online: 2021-08-24

Publish Date: 2021-08-10

Abstract

Abstract

Objective To compare the expression levels of interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) and Rho-associated protein kinase 2 (ROCK2) mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) of smoking and non-smoking rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and healthy control (HC) subjects, and to investigate whether smoking is involved in RA pathogenesis through the IRF4 signaling pathway. Methods Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) method was used to detect the expression levels of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), cytochrome P4501A1 (CYP1A1) and ROCK2, IRF4 mRNA in PBMC, and to analyze the correlation between ROCK2, IRF4 mRNA and AHR, CYP1A1 mRNA expression levels, as well as the correlation between the expression levels of each mRNA and clinical indicators such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), anti-cyclic citrulline peptide antibody (A-CCP), rheumatoid factor (RF) and disease activity score in 28 joints scores in RA patients. Results ROCK2 and IRF4 mRNA expressions were higher in RA group than in HC group, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05); IRF4 mRNA expression levels was higher in RA smoking group than in RA non-smoking group, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.011); IRF4 mRNA expression levels in PBMC of healthy smokers was higher than that of healthy non-smokers, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.004). CYP1A1 mRNA was positively correlated with ROCK2 and IRF4 mRNA expression levels in the RA smoking group, while ROCK2 and IRF4 mRNA expression levels were positively correlated with ESR, A-CCP, RF and swollen joint count. Conclusions ROCK2 and IRF4 mRNA expression levels was increased in PBMC of RA patients, suggesting that both may be involved in the pathogenesis of RA. Smoking may be involved in the pathogenesis of RA by activating AHR leading to high IRF4 expression.
- Rheumatoid arthritis,
- Smoking,
- Interferon regulatory factor 4

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References(20)

References

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