Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is accompanied by synovial inflammation, proliferation, and cartilage destruction. The reasons the activation of synovial fibroblasts often persists despite antiinflammatory therapy are not known. One possibility is that the synovial membrane becomes gradually repopulated with immature mesenchymal and bone marrow cells with altered properties. To explore this hypothesi...

Angiogenesis is a critical factor for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although anti-TNF biologics work effectively on some RA patients, concerns have been raised about the possible increased development of malignancies alongside such treatments. Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) has attracted worldwide attention and has been reported to treat some cancers. However, the effects of As2O3 on angiogenesis in the...

BACKGROUND We have demonstrated that a peptide, which we named 'Peptide A', derived from the extracellular domain of T-cell leukemia translocation-associated gene (TCTA) protein, inhibited human osteoclastogenesis. OBJECTIVE In the current study, we examined whether this peptide inhibits the proliferation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) or not. MATERIAL AND M...

Background: Liver kinase B1 (LKB1) is known as a tumor suppressor gene and also inhibits reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Intracellular ROS are catalyzed by the enzyme complex nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (NOX). We previously reported that NOX4 induced migration invasion of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although LKB1 expecte...

BACKGROUND The formation of destructive hypercellular pannus is critical to joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The collagen triple helix repeat containing 1 (CTHRC1) protein expressed by activated stromal cells of diverse origin has previously been implicated in tissue remodeling and carcinogenesis. We recently discovered that the synovial Cthrc1 mRNA directly correlates with arthritis ...

The intricate interactions that regulate relationships between endogenous tissue cells and infiltrating immune cells in the rheumatic joint, particularly in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), were the subject of the meeting. A better understanding of these interactions might help to define intervention points that could be used to develop specific therapies. The presentations and discussions highlighte...