The potential of circulating microRNA‐125a and microRNA‐125b as markers for inflammation and clinical response to infliximab in rheumatoid arthritis patients
Peng Cheng, Jun Wang
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study was to investigate the changes in circulating microRNA (miR)-125a and miR-125b during infliximab (IFX) treatment, and their value in predicting clinical response to IFX in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. METHODS: The plasma samples were obtained from 96 active RA patients who underwent 24-week IFX treatment and from 96 healthy controls to detect miR-125a and miR-125b expressions by RT-qPCR. Clinical response was assessed according to EULAR criteria based on disease activity alleviation at week 4, week 12, and week 24. RESULTS: MiR-125a and miR-125b expressions were both elevated in RA patients compared with healthy controls, and they could differentiate RA patients from healthy controls by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Baseline miR-125a positively correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP) level; meanwhile, baseline miR-125b positively correlated with tender joint count (TJC), swollen joint count (SJC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), CRP, and DAS28-ESR score in RA patients. With the 24-week IFX treatment, clinical response rate was gradually increased, while miR-125a and miR-125b expressions were gradually decreased in RA patients. At week 24, 69 (71.9%) patients responded to IFX treatment, while 27 (28.1%) patients did not respond to IFX treatment. Importantly, baseline miR-125a and miR-125b expressions were higher in responders than that in non-responders, further multivariate logistic regression analysis disclosed that miR-125b but not miR-125a could independently predict better clinical response to IFX in RA patients. CONCLUSION: Circulating miR-125a and miR-125b displays the potency for guiding personalized treatment strategy and improving clinical outcomes in RA patients.