PLX185055

GSE103170: Neutrophils in systemic onset Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis display sepsis-like features which can be reverted by IL-1 blockade

• Organsim human
• Type RNASEQ
• Target gene
• Project ARCHS4

This study investigated neutrophils in systemic onset Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (sJIA), one of the most common multifactorial autoinflammatory diseases, characterized by arthritis and severe systemic inflammatory manifestations like fever, rash, hepatosplenomegaly and serositis. Neutrophil counts were markedly increased at disease onset, correlated to levels of inflammatory mediators and normalized within days after initiation of therapy with recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist (rIL-1RA). Neutrophils isolated from 3 sJIA patients with active disease, before initiation of therapy (2 disease onset, 1 systemic flare) and 3 healthy controls were compared. A clear separation between the transcriptome of sJIA patients and HCs was observed. In total, 1068 genes were significantly upregulated and 625 genes were downregulated in sJIA; GO-analyses indicated upregulation of inflammatory processes in sJIA neutrophils compared to HCs. GSEA analyses revealed a significant enrichment with the transcriptome of neutrophils in sepsis patients. Correspondingly, neutrophils from sJIA patients during active disease displayed a primed phenotype characterized by an increased respiratory burst, CD62L shedding and degranulation of secretory vesicles. This phenotype was completely reversed in sJIA patients in remission on rIL-1RA. Our data show an important role for neutrophils in the early inflammatory phase of sJIA and a strong susceptibility of neutrophil numbers and inflammatory activity to IL-1 signaling blockade. SOURCE: Michal Mokry (m.mokry@umcutrecht.nl) - Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht