• SOX17 can be used as a biomarker to distinguish rheumatoid arthritis from osteoarthritis
  • Maziar Oveisee,1,* Akram Gholipour,2 Mahshid Malakootian,3
    1. School of Medicine, Bam University of Medical Sciences, Bam
    2. Cardiogenetic Research Center, Rajaie Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences
    3. Cardiogenetic Research Center, Rajaie Cardiovascular Medical and Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences


  • Introduction: Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis both are diseases of joints which associated to falling physical function with very diverse etiologies. The present study aimed to find the differential gene expression in terms of transcription factors in order to distinguish RA from OA patients.
  • Methods: The expression profiling array of patients, 7 osteoarthritis samples and 10 rheumatoid arthritis patients, were obtained from the GEO database (GEO accession: GSE39340), and the samples were analyzed. Genes with differential expression patterns were isolated with the GEO2R by logFoldchange (logFC) ≠ 1 investigation. In addition, important transcription factors (TFs) of differential expressed genes was analyzed using Enrichr database.
  • Results: The result demonstrated that 114 genes upregulated and 116 genes downregulated in OA. Of which SOX17, STAT5A, E2F1, IRF1, VDR, CTNNB1 and CEBPA were among the important transcription factors network for differential expression genes which can distinguish RA from OA. Regarding to the amount of interaction, the main TF in this network was SOX17 which probably have important role in the pathophysiology of RA.
  • Conclusion: All in all, SOX17, STAT5A, E2F1, IRF1, VDR, CTNNB1 and CEBPA TFs might play important role in RA pathology. However, SOX17 can be a good marker to distinguish RA from OA states. Further, more experimental analysis is required to confirm the exact role of the TFs.
  • Keywords: Osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, array, SOX17