Association of circulating Treg and plasma microRNA-21 with rheumatoid arthritis progression … Original Research Article …

The Egyptian Journal of Immunology
E-ISSN (2090-2506)
Volume 32 (1), January 2025
Pages: 63 – 76
www.Ejimmunology.org
https://doi.org/10.55133/eji.320107
Mariam Gamal1, Ola El-Diwany2, Sally S. Abd Elhamed3, Ahmed Elshafei4, and Reham Hammad2
1Department of Clinical Pathology, AboEl Azayem Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.

2Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

3Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.4Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Faculty of Pharmacy (Boys), Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

Corresponding author:
Mariam Gamal, Department of Clinical Pathology, AboEl Azayem Hospital, Cairo,, Egypt.
Email: gamal.mariam2856@gmail.com

 

Abstract

The etiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is multifaceted. One of the hypothesized pathways that results in the progression of RA is regulatory T cell (Treg) dysfunction. The pro-osteoclastogenic and immunogenic characteristics of microribonucleic acid (microRNA)-21 (miR-21) suggest its role in RA progression. Hence, we investigated the significance of plasma miR-21 and Treg cell frequency as biomarkers for RA progression and assessed the link between miR-21 and Treg frequency in RA. This study enrolled 60 RA patients classified according to disease activity score 28-joint count with erythrocyte sediment rate (DAS28-ESR) to inactive cases (n = 30) and active cases (n = 30). Flow cytometer was used to assess Treg frequency. The Real-time quantitative PCR was used to measure the expression levels of miR-21 in plasma. When compared to the inactive group, the active group revealed significant up-regulation of miR-21 expression (p = 0.004) and down-regulation of Treg frequency (p<0.001). While Treg frequency was negatively correlated, miR-21 fold change was positively correlated with DAS-28-ESR (r = -508, p < 0.001 and r = 0.334, p < 0.009, respectively). No correlation was detected between mirR-21 and Treg frequency. Treg distinguished the two groups at area under the curve (AUC) of 0.907 with 86.7% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity, whereas miR-21 up-regulation discriminated active from inactive RA patients at AUC of 0.717, with 83.3% sensitivity and 53.3% specificity. In conclusion, Treg frequency and miR-21 fold were differentially linked to DAS-28-ESR in RA. MiR-21 fold up-regulation changes and Treg frequency down-regulation can be suggested as biomarkers for RA activity.

Keywords:
microRNA-21 (miR-21), regulatory T cell (Treg), Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) activity

Date received:
17 May 2024; accepted: 22 November 2024

PMID:
39804132

 

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