Gene Expression Profiles Distinguish Children with Inactive Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) with a Predilection to Flare

Gene expression profiles were obtained from 17 children with rheumatoid factor negative (RF-) polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The disease was inactive in all patients at visit 1. Thee disease remained inactive at visit 2 for 9 patients, while the other 8 patients were experiencing a disease flare at visit 2. The goal of the study was to better understand the underlying molecular biology of flares in JIA Total RNA was obtained from PBMC at two different times in the course of disease 2 samples from each of 17 patients were collected and analyzed different times in the course of the disease