Circulating miR-10a as Predictor of Therapy Response in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Methotrexate

Background: Anti-inflammatory drugs and DMARDs, especially methotrexate, have dramatically improved the outlook of RA patient. However, in some patients the treatment effect is still not satisfactory and needs to change therapeutic regimen in time. So, timely prediction of patient treatment effect is particularly important. Methods: miRNAs are a large family of highly conserved noncoding genes and some of them become potential biomarker of disease diagnosis. Circulating miR-10a was detected by qRT-PCR. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC)curve analyses were performed for circulating miR-10a in RA diagnosis and predictor of therapy effectiveness in RA patients treated with methotrexate. Results and Conclusion: In the present study, we found that the circulating miR-10a was significantly decreased in RA patients compared to osteoarthritic patients and healthy people. Importantly, circulating miR-10a was up-regulated in RA patients treated with MTX. Moreover, we identified circulating miR-10a that may serve as a biomarker of RA diagnosis and predictor of therapy effectiveness in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with methotrexate.