Increased gene expression of integrin β7 in newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis patients

Integrin and chemokine receptors play an important role in leukocytes migration and recirculation during autoimmune disorders including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Normally, gut-homing T cells express CCR9 and integrin α4β7 in order to home back from peripheral blood to the intestinal lamina propria. Our study was conducted to evaluate the chemokine receptor CCR9 and the integrin α4β7 gene expression in circulating leukocytes and lymphocytes among newly diagnosed RA patients and to compare these values with healthy individuals. In this case-control study, 20 newly diagnosed patients with RA and 20 healthy controls were examined. Peripheral blood samples were acquired from patients and healthy individuals. The total RNA was extracted, then cDNA synthesis was performed. The expression of CCR9 and β7 genes were evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR. The t-test was used to compare gene expression between the groups. We found that RA patients had a significantly higher level of β7 gene expression compared to controls (P=0.007), while there was no significant difference in CCR9 gene expression between 2 groups (P=0.06). Our data showed that the expression of β7 gene increases in RA patients and, similar to IBD, β7 gene can be a candidate target for therapy in RA patients.