Juvenile idiopathic arthritis: peripheral blood cells

Systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (soJIA) is a rheumatic disease in childhood characterized by systemic symptoms and a relatively poor prognosis. The peripheral leukocytes are thought to play the pathological role of soJIA although the exact cause is still obscure. In this study, we aimed to clarify the cellular functional abnormality in those cells. Here, we analyzed the gene expression profile in peripheral leukocytes from 51 patients with soJIA, 6 patients with poly-articular type JIA (polyJIA) and 8 healthy children utilizing DNA microarrays. A total of 3,491 genes, including genes related to immune reponse and metabolism, were differentially expressed in patients with soJIA compared to healthy individuals. The result provides insight into the pathogenesis of soJIA. Keywords: disease state analysis Total RNA was extracted from peripheral leukocytes from 51 soJIA patients, 6 poly-articular type JIA patients, and 8 healthy children. The gene expression profile was analyzed with DNA microarrays.