Circulating miR-146a -5p in Egyptian patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

We indented to evaluate of the role miRNA-146a-5p expression level as a possible biomarker associated with the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis and the detection of its relevance with different disease parameters. The study included 60 clinically diagnosed RA patients fulfilling 2010 American College of Rheumatology / European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) classification criteria for Rheumatoid Arthritis and 45 age and sex matched control subjects. Disease activity was assessed by Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28). The expression levels of miR-146a in whole blood was measured using reverse transcriptase quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). There median expression level of miRNA-146a-5p was significantly higher in RA patients compared with the control group (P = 0.036). MiR-146a expression level was positively correlated with individual activity markers, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P = 0.04), visual analogue scale (VAS) (P = 0.047) and Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (MHAQ) (P = 0.050). A lower expression level of miRNA-146a-5p was detected in RA patients on antimalarial drugs as compared to patients whose treatment protocol did not include antimalarial drugs (P = 0.016). In conclusion, data of this study suggested a possible association between miRNA 146a-5p expression level and the incidence of RA in Egyptian patients.