Journal of Inflammation Research (Sep 2023)
NAMPT/SIRT1 Expression Levels in White Blood Cells Differentiate the Different Rheumatoid Arthritis Subsets: An Inspiration from Traditional Chinese Medicine
Abstract
Xiu-Ping Cheng,1,2,* Xiao-Wan Wang,3,* Han-Fei Sun,4,* Liang Xu,3 Opeyemi Joshua Olatunji,5 Yan Li,1,2,6 Jia-Ting Lin,2,7 Jian Zuo1,2,6 1Xin’an Medicine Research Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College (Yijishan Hospital), Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China; 2Research Center of Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Rheumatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College (Yijishan Hospital), Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pharmacy, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China; 5African Genome Center, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, 43150, Morocco; 6Center for Xin’an Medicine and Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Institution of Health and Medicine, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, 230000, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Stomatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College (Yijishan Hospital), Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jia-Ting Lin; Jian Zuo, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are prone to developing different metabolic complications. Traditional Chinese Medicine attributes this uncertainty to varied syndrome types.Methods and Results: We retrospectively analyzed some serological indicators of active RA patients and healthy individuals. Randomly selected RA patients were divided into three groups according to NAMPT and SIRT1 expression levels in white blood cells (WBCs). Their disease severity and metabolic status were compared. Representative blood samples were subjected to a UPLC-MS/MS-based metabolomics analysis. Different human WBCs were treated with oleic acid and palmitic acid in vitro. The results indicated that blood glucose and lipid levels were decreased in RA patients, but their decrease was not in accordance with disease severity. Nutrients in the patients highly expressing SIRT1 were well preserved, with the lowest levels of RF and β-CTX and the highest levels of adiponectin and resistin. Most of them exhibited cold symptoms. When SIRT1 deficiency was obvious, lipid depletion became evident, irrespective of expression levels of NAMPT. Simultaneous high-expression of SIRT1 and NAMPT coincided with the increase in production of lactic acid and the prevalence of hot symptoms. Despite the low levels of IL-6, joint injuries were severe. The corresponding WBCs were especially sensitive to fatty acids anti-inflammatory treatments. The levels of CCL27, CCL11, CCL5, AKP, CRP and ESR were similar among all the groups.Conclusion: NAMPT overexpression is a risk factor for joint injuries and nutrient depletion in RA. Supplementation with lipids would exert beneficial effects on these RA patients. Its aftermath would cause even severe inflammation. Contrarily, SIRT1 up-regulation restrains inflammation and lipid depletion.Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation, energy metabolism, blood glucose, lipids, joint damage
