Circular RNAs hsa-circ0000175 and hsa-circ0044235 in plasma are novel biomarkers for new-onset rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that could serve as potential molecular markers for disease diagnosis. However, the role of circRNAs in plasma from new-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has not been extensively investigated. In this study, the expression of hsa-circ0000175 and hsa-circ0044235 in plasma from RA patients, healthy controls (HCs), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, osteoarthritis (OA), and undiagnosed arthritis (UA) patients were determined by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation of the two circRNAs and clinical variables of RA. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were created to evaluate the diagnostic value and multivariate analysis (logistic regression) was performed to analyse the risk factors. We confirmed that hsa-circ0000175 was significantly elevated in plasma from patients with new-onset RA compared with HC and patients with new-onset SLE, but significantly was reduced when compared with OA + UA patients. Hsa-circ0044235 was found to be significantly decreased in plasma from patients with new-onset RA compared with HC and OA + UA patients, but was significantly increased compared with SLE patients. The expression of plasma hsa-circ0000175 in new-onset RA patients was associated with platelet count (PLT), plateletcrit (PCT), and platelet large cell ratio (PLR), the expression of plasma hsa-circ0044235 new-onset RA patients was associated with swollen joint count (SJC), painful joint count (PJC), and disease activity score 28 (DAS28). ROC curve analysis suggested that the combination of hsa-circ0000175 and hsa-circ0044235 has some value in the diagnosis of new-onset RA from HC, patients with SLE and patients with OA + UA. The logistic regression analysis revealed that the expression of hsa-circ0000175 and hsa-circ0044235 in plasma were risk factors for RA. This study suggests that the combination of plasma hsa-circ0000175 and hsa-circ0044235 improves the diagnostic accuracy for new-onset RA. Moreover, the expression levels of plasma hsa-circ0000175 and hsa-circ0044235 were associated with disease activity and severity of RA.

Keywords:

• Biomarker
• plasma
• circular RNAs
• rheumatoid arthritis

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the members of our laboratory for their contributions.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The data used to support the findings of the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. All participants provided informed consent prior to inclusion in the study.

Additional information

Funding

The present study was supported by the Key Research and Development Plan Project of Jiangxi Province [Grant no. 20181BBG70013], the Science and Technology Plan Project of the Education Department of Jiangxi Province [Grant no. 170008], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant nos. 81360459, 81660277, and 81760297], the Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant nos. 20151BAB215031, 20171BAB205113, and 20202BABL206044], the Science and Technology Project of Health and Family Planning Commission of Jiangxi Province of China [Grant no. 20165094], and the Foundation for Distinguished Young Scientists of Jiangxi Province of China [Grant no. 20171BCB23087].