Whole Genome Expression Profiling and Signal Pathway Screening of MSCs in Ankylosing Spondylitis

The pathogenesis of dysfunctional immunoregulation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is thought to be a complex process that involves multiple genetic alterations. In this study, MSCs derived from both healthy donors and AS patients were cultured in normal media or media mimicking an inflammatory environment. Whole genome expression profiling analysis of 33,351 genes was performed and differentially expressed genes related to AS were analyzed by GO term analysis and KEGG pathway analysis. Our results showed that in normal media 676 genes were differentially expressed in AS, 354 upregulated and 322 downregulated, while in an inflammatory environment 1767 genes were differentially expressed in AS, 1230 upregulated and 537 downregulated. GO analysis showed that these genes were mainly related to cellular processes, physiological processes, biological regulation, regulation of biological processes, and binding. In addition, by KEGG pathway analysis, 14 key genes from the MAPK signaling and 8 key genes from the TLR signaling pathway were identified as differentially regulated. The results of qRT-PCR verified the expression variation of the 9 genes mentioned above. Our study found that in an inflammatory environment ankylosing spondylitis pathogenesis may be related to activation of the MAPK and TLR signaling pathways.