Response of synovial fibroblasts to TNFα and IL6/sIL6R

Synovial fibroblasts (SF) are the main mesenchymal cell type constitutive in human synovial tissue. SF contribute to the homeostasis of normal joints by synthesizing extracellular matrix components and secreting the specific components of synovial fluid. SF are essential players in RA pathophysiology, they are the primary source of IL6 in the RA synovium contributing to perpetuate the inflammation in the joint. We used microarrays analysis to characterize the effector pro-inflammatory response of SF to TNFα and IL6/sIL6R signaling. Four SF lines from healthy donors stimulated for 24h with either TNFα (20ng/ml) or IL6 and sIL6R (20ng/ml each) was used to synthesize double-stranded cDNA (ds-cDNA) by using GeneChip 3’ IVT Pico Reagent Kit. The fragmented and labelled ds-cDNA was hybridized in Affymetrix GeneChip® PrimeView™ Human Gene Expression Array platform containing 49395 probesets.