Genomic responses of mouse synovial fibroblasts during TNF-driven arthritogenesis greatly mimic those of human rheumatoid arthritis (MethylCap-Seq).

We used deep sequencing to probe the transcriptome, the methylome and the chromatin landscape of cultured mouse arthritogenic SFs at three stages of disease, as well as SFs stimulated with human TNF. We performed bioinformatics analyses at the gene, pathway and network levels, compared mouse and human data, and validated selected genes in both species. RNA, DNA methylation and H3K4me3 profiles of SFs from Tg197 and WT mice at the ages of 3 (Early),8 (Established) and 11 (Late) weeks old were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicates, using Illumina HiSeq2000 platform.