Modeling Transcriptional Rewiring in Neutrophils through the Course of Treated Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Neutrophils in children with the polyarticular form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) display abnormal transcriptional patterns linked to fundamental metabolic derangements. These abnormalities include re-ordering of miRNA-RNA expression networks. In this study, we sought to determine the effects of therapy on miRNA-RNA networks in polyarticular JIA. We studied children with active JIA disease on therapy (ADM), children with inactive disease also on therapy (ID), and children with clinical remission on medication (CRM) using exon and miRNA microarrays and compared results to findings from healthy control (HC) children. We found substantial re-ordering of miRNA-RNA networks after the initiation of therapy. Each disease state was associated with a distinct transcriptional profile. Total RNA and miRNA were extracted from isolated neutrophils from patients with JIA and healthy control children.