Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing
Summary
We collected and compared samples from the cohort consisted of six groups as follows: methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy, combination therapy of MTX and infliximab (IFX), tocilizumab (TCZ) monotherapy, age- and gender-matched HC, and a small number of synovial fluid samples. In order to reduce variation due to the proportion of cells at each developmental stage, we performed transcriptome analysis after sorting CD4+ and CD8+ T cells according to developmental stage. We created a gene list that was significantly expressed in RA T cells, and revealed that pathways such as mTORC1, IL-2-stat5, Cell cycle and interferon-related genes were significantly enriched among them.
Overall design
Examination among healthy controls and patients with rheumatoid arthritis, including before and after treatment