Global miRNA expression profiles of fibroblast-like synoviocytes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis

Fibroblast-like synoviocyte (FLS) constitutes a major cell subset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) joint. Dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) contributes to FLS activation in the context of chronic inflammation. However, functional association of the miRNAs-targets relationships characterizing FLS phenotypes in RA has not been fully elucidated yet. Thus, we uncovered the novel miRNA-target interactions characterizing pathologic phenotypes of RA-FLS. We performed microarray analyses of miRNA in RA- and osteoarthritis (OA) FLS with or without interleukin-1β (IL-1β) stimulation. The miRNA-target prediction and network model-ing were performed using TargetScan and Cytoscape. Identified miRNA-target relationships and their cellular functions were validated in vitro. To identify miRNA expression signatures of FLS from rheumatoid arthritis patients, we isolated FLS from synovial tissues of RA and osteoarthritis (OA) patients and stimulated FLS with IL1β. Finally, we analyzed gene expression profiles of both IL1β-stimulated RA-FLS and OA-FLS