LBH mRNA Expression and Polymorphisms in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Background: This study was performed to determine the mRNA expression levels of limb-bud and heart (LBH) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to assess the associations of LBH rs7579944 and rs906868 polymorphisms with RA in a Chinese population. Methods: Real-time transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to determine the LBH mRNA expression in PBMCs from 53 patients with RA and 58 healthy controls, and LBH rs7579944 and rs906868 polymorphisms were genotyped in 328 RA patients and 449 healthy controls. Results: The LBH mRNA expression levels were significantly decreased in RA patients compared with healthy controls (p = 0.02). However, non-significant correlation between LBH mRNA expression in PBMCs and ESR (r = 0.14, p = 0.36), CRP (r = 0.17, p = 0.27) or DAS28-ESR (r = 0.23, p = 0.12) was found. There was no significant difference in neither genotype (p = 0.90) nor allele (p = 0.97) distribution of the LBH rs7579944 polymorphism between RA patients and healthy controls. The relationships between the major allele T of LBH rs7579944 polymorphism and the risk of RA under dominant and recessive model were examined, whereas non-significant evidence was found. Similarly, a non-significant signal was detected for the association of LBH rs906868 polymorphism with RA. Conclusions: Decreased expression of LBH mRNA in PBMCs might contribute to the pathogenesis of RA.

A study on associations of single-nucleotide polymorphisms within H19 and HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) with genetic susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis in a Chinese population.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to examine whether the H19 rs2839698, rs217727, and HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) rs12826786 polymorphisms were associated with genetic susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a Chinese population. METHODS: A total of 777 participants were enrolled in this study, including 328 RA patients and 449 healthy controls. The H19 rs2839698, rs217727, and HOTAIR rs12826786 polymorphisms were detected by the ligase detection reaction-polymerase chain reaction (LDR-PCR) technology. RESULTS: No significant difference in genotype distribution between RA patients and healthy controls was found (P = 0.38 for rs2839698; P = 0.79 for rs217727; P = 0.39 for rs12826786). The difference in allele frequencies between RA patients and controls was also non-significant (rs2839698 T versus C, P = 0.23, odds ratio (OR) = 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.92-1.43; rs217727 C versus T, P = 0.55, OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.87-1.32; and rs12826786 T versus C, P = 0.32, OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 0.88-1.47). We have also evaluated the relationships of above-mentioned polymorphisms with risk of RA under dominant model and recessive model, but non-significant evidence was found. No significant evidence was detected for the relationships of H19 rs2839698, rs217727, and HOTAIR rs12826786 polymorphisms with risk of different serotypes of RA. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that H19 rs2839698, rs217727, and HOTAIR rs12826786 polymorphisms might not be involved in the genetic background of RA in Chinese.