Systematic analysis of inflammation and pain pathways in a mouse model of gout

Gout is a prevalent and painful inflammatory arthritis, and its global burden continues to rise. Intense pain induced by gout attacks is a major complication of gout. Treatment and long-term management for gout patients remain challenging. Despite the discovery of many key immune response and inflammatory genes and pathways in gout, the molecular mechanisms of gout inflammation are still not entirely elucidated. Particularly, systematic studies of gout inflammation and pain are lacking. Using a monosodium urate (MSU) crystals-induced gout model, we performed genome-wide transcriptome analysis for the ankle joint, dorsal root ganglion (DRG), and spinal cord of gout mice. Our results revealed transcriptional changes in both the joint and the nervous system. Furthermore, through integrated analysis with public datasets of mouse inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain models, human GWAS, osteoarthritis (OA), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we identified common and unique features associated with acute gout inflammation and severe pain. Monosodium urate (MSU) crystals were used as treatments. 1 x PBS were used as controls. Ankle joint, dorsal root ganglion (DRG), and spinal cord (SC) were collected and RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed.