Gene expression predictors of extension in oligoarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Homo sapiens

Children with oligoarticular JIA (arthritis in 4 or fewer joints) can either continue to have this mild form of arthritis (persistent oligoarticular JIA) or extend to a more sever form involving more than 4 joints (extended oligoarticular JIA) Synovial fluid mononuclear cell RNA was prepared from 21 recently diagnosed pre-treatment patients and grouped according to whether the patient had extended or persisted at one year after diagnosis Overall design: Each sample was hybridized to Affymetrix HGU133plus2 microarrays. The mean for each probeset was compared between groups in order to find differentially expressed genes whose expression might predict outcome in a prospective study