title: Role of LncRNA-AF085935, IL-10 and IL-17 in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The current study aimed at testing the effect of corticosteroid therapy on serum levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and IL-17 as well as lncRNA-AF085935 in patients of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and evaluating the usefulness of using these parameters to predict the therapeutic efficacy of steroids in these patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty healthy control subjects and 65 chronic HCV patients with RA were included in our study. Patients were subjected to clinical examination, abdominal ultrasound, and liver biopsy and received 6-methyl-prednisolone (PDN) 16 mg/day for 48 weeks. Blood samples were collected from all subjects and serum was separated to assess IL-10 and IL-17 by ELISA and HCV RNA and lncRNA-AF085935 by qRT-PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study revealed that there were significant increases in serum levels of IL-10, IL-17 and lncRNA-AF085935 in RA patients associated with HCV compared with healthy control subjects. Also there were significant increases in serum levels of IL-10 and HCV RNA and a significant decrease in serum level of IL-17 in patients after corticosteroid therapy, while lncRNA-AF085935 is not significantly changed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LncRNA-AF085935 might be a useful candidate biomarker for the early detection of RA associated with HCV, providing potential new strategies for early screening and therapy of these patients. IL-17 is a non-invasive prognostic marker to predict the efficacy of corticosteroid therapy in RA patients associated with chronic hepatitis C.
authors.affiliation: Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sabry
authors.affiliation: Medical Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Al Fayoum, Egypt.
authors.forename: Azza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elamir
authors.affiliation: Medical Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Al Fayoum, Egypt.
authors.forename: Rania Hosny
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Mahmoud
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alazhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed Ali
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Abdelaziz
authors.affiliation: Tropical Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Beni Suef University, Beni Suef, Egypt.
authors.forename: Wael
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fathy
keywords: HCV; IL-10; IL-17; LncRNA-AF085935; Rheumatoid arthritis