RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Development and Validation of a MicroRNA Panel to Differentiate Between Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Controls JF The Journal of Rheumatology JO J Rheumatol FD The Journal of Rheumatology SP jrheum.181029 DO 10.3899/jrheum.181029 A1 Michelle J. Ormseth A1 Joseph F. Solus A1 Quanhu Sheng A1 Fei Ye A1 Qiong Wu A1 Yan Guo A1 Annette M. Oeser A1 Ryan M. Allen A1 Kasey C. Vickers A1 C. Michael Stein YR 2019 UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/09/11/jrheum.181029.abstract AB Objective MicroRNA (miRNA) are short noncoding RNA that regulate genes and are both biomarkers and mediators of disease. We used small RNA (sRNA) sequencing and machine learning methodology to develop an miRNA panel to reliably differentiate between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and control subjects. Methods Plasma samples from 167 RA and 91 control subjects who frequency-matched for age, race, and sex were used for sRNA sequencing. TIGER was used to analyze miRNA. DESeq2 and random forest analyses were used to identify a prioritized list of miRNA differentially expressed in patients with RA. Prioritized miRNA were validated by quantitative PCR, and lasso and logistic regression were used to select the final panel of 6 miRNA that best differentiated RA from controls. The panel was validated in a separate cohort of 12 SLE, 32 RA, and 32 control subjects. Panel efficacy was assessed by area under the receiver operative characteristic curve (AUC) analyses. Results The final panel included miR-22-3p, miR-24-3p, miR-96-5p, miR-134-5p, miR-140-3p, and miR-627-5p. The panel differentiated RA from control subjects in discovery (AUC = 0.81) and validation cohorts (AUC = 0.71), seronegative RA (AUC = 0.84), RA remission (AUC = 0.85), and patients with SLE (AUC = 0.80) versus controls. Pathway analysis showed upstream regulators and targets of panel miRNA are associated with pathways implicated in RA pathogenesis. Conclusion An miRNA panel identified by a bioinformatic approach differentiated between RA or SLE patients and control subjects. The panel may represent an autoimmunity signature, perhaps related to inflammatory arthritis, which is not dependent on active disease or seropositivity.