Expression of NEAT1, PACERR, and GAS5 circulating long noncoding RNAs can be associated with disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

INTRODUCTION

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have long been considered molecular noise within the transcriptome, but over time it has been shown that they perform many important biological functions and are associated with various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the circulating lncRNAs and RA activity.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study included 63 patients with well‑established RA (median disease duration of 12 years), at a mean (SD) age of 51.7 (13) years, 88.9% women, and 25 healthy controls (HCs) at a mean (SD) age 51.8 (8.2) years, 80% women. Quantitative real‑time polymerase chain reaction was used to evaluate the plasma concentration levels of 6 lncRNAs: PACERR, NEAT1, HOTTIP, GAS5, MALAT1, and HIX003209.

RESULTS

Among the tested molecules, 5 targets (PACERR, NEAT1, HOTTIP, GAS5, and HIX003209) had lower concentrations in the RA patients than in the HCs. LncRNAs for NEAT1, PACERR, and GAS5 showed differences between the severe disease activity group (the 28 joint disease activity score [DAS28] / erythrocyte sedimentation rate >5.1) and HCs (P = 0.02, P = 0.003, and P = 0.04, respectively). The multiple linear regression analysis indicated that GAS5 had the greatest impact on the disease activity based on DAS28 (P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Circulating plasma lncRNAs may be considered as supporting molecular markers associated with RA activity and may be useful in identifying the disease exacerbation.