LIGHT regulated gene expression in rheumatoid synovial fibroblasts

Abstract

BackgroundSynovial hyperplasia caused by rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune inflammatory disease, leads to the destruction of the articular cartilage and bone. A member of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily, Lymphotoxin-related inducible ligand that competes for glycoprotein D binding to herpes virus entry mediator on T cells (LIGHT) has been shown to correlate with the pathogenesis of RA.MethodsWe used cDNA microarray analysis to compare the expression of genes in rheumatoid fibroblast-like synoviocytes with and without LIGHT stimulation.ResultsSignificant changes in gene expression (P-values < 0.05 and fold change ≥ 2.0) were associated mainly with biological function categories of glycoprotein, glycosylation site as N-linked, plasma membrane part, integral to plasma membrane, intrinsic to plasma membrane, signal, plasma membrane, signal peptide, alternative splicing, and topological domain as extracellular.ConclusionsOur results indicate that LIGHT may regulate the expression in RA-FLS of genes which are important in the differentiation of several cell types and in cellular functions.