Preliminary Research On Ndrg2 In Human Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis ( RA ) is a systematic disease with the features of chronic inflammation and structure destruction in joints, etiology of which has not been clearly illustrated yet. The potent remedy of RA has not been discovered. Synoviocytes are both the chief victims and pivotal mediators of joint damage in the pathogenesis of RA: proliferated synoviocytes can corrade the tendons , ligaments, cartilages and bones nearby with the results of progressive injuries in joints; matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) secreted by the proliferated synoviocytes can accelerate joint destruction potently. The NF-kB pathway in synoviovytes is also closely related to the pathogenesis of RA. NF-kB can enhance transcription of several cytokines and inflammation mediators in RA synoviocytes and depress expression of many pro-apoptosis genes resulting in less apoptosis of synoviocytes. NDRG2 is a novel gene discovered and cloned from healthy adult brain cDNA library by our lab in 1999, and it has been found that expression level of NDRG2 is decreased compared with normal tissue in many kinds of tumor cells . It is regarded as a candidate tumor repressor because it can influence cell circles of tumor cells and facilitate in apoptosis of several...