RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Longterm culture of telomerase-transduced rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes display a distinct gene expression pattern.
JF The Journal of Rheumatology
JO J Rheumatol
FD The Journal of Rheumatology
SP 1959
OP 1970
VO 34
IS 10
A1 Yubo Sun
A1 Gary Firestein
A1 David Boyle
A1 Helen Gruber
A1 Herman Cheung
YR 2007
UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/34/10/1959.abstract
AB OBJECTIVE: To extend the lifespan of rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes (RA FLS) using human telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) and to test the hypothesis that longterm culture of hTERT-RA FLS may display a disease-specific gene expression pattern. METHODS: RA 516 FLS were transduced by hTERT and the replicative properties of hTERT-RA 516 FLS were evaluated by repeated expansion. Gene expressions in hTERT-RA 516 FLS (passage 8) were compared with the gene expressions in hTERT-osteoarthritis (OA) 13A FLS (passage 8) by microarrays and RT-PCR. After continuous expansion in culture for an additional 4 months, gene expression was examined again using real-time RT-PCR and microarray. RESULTS: While primary RA 516 FLS stopped dividing after repeated culture for about 120 days, hTERT-RA 516 FLS continued to grow at a steady rate. The hTERT-RA 156 FLS displayed a distinct gene expression pattern different from hTERT-OA 13A FLS. Several putative autoantigens and cytokine A2/monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 were expressed at significantly higher levels in longterm culture of hTERT-RA 516 FLS. CONCLUSION: Telomerase-transduced RA FLS offer an alternative cell model for the study of RA and for examination of cellular/genetic alterations in RA FLS. Our findings provide further support for the notion that RA FLS are altered cells.