microRNAs (miRNAs) are a special subgroup of non-coding RNAs which prevent the expression of genes at the post-transcriptional level by binding to complementary mRNA transcripts repressing protein production and targeting the mRNA for degradation. As a result, miRNAs might inhibit multiple mRNAs and are often involved in regulating more than one cellular pathway. Recent studies have shown that miRNAs play a key role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune diseases. We hypothesize miRNAs mediate neuropathy and neuropathic pain pathways in this disease in African-American and Hispanic RA. To investigate this, we recruited twenty-seven African-American and Hispanic RA patients into a pilot study and measured levels of 800 miRNAs in serum circulating extracellular vesicles using Nanostring nCounter miRNA Expression Panel and analyzed using nSolver Analysis Software. We found that levels of miR-223-3p and miR-16-5p correlate positively with clinical measures of neuropathic pain: ID pain and the Toronto Clinical Neuropathy Score (TCNS), respectively (Pearson Coeff.ID Pain=0.556, p=0.014 and Pearson Coeff.TCNS= 0.5, p=0.02). We carried out a bioinformatic analysis to predict the targets of the identified miRNAs by using the online database, miRDB. We identified 1,485 gene targets with predicted scores in the range of 60-100. With these targets, we conducted a gene ontology analysis using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) and identified the neurotrophin signaling pathway (p=1.00 x 10-4) as a possible important mechanism in RA in this population.

Bioinformatic prediction of neuropathic pain signaling pathways in rheumatoid arthritis after high throughput miRNA analysis

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.