Gene Expression Profiling of Monozygotic Twins Affected by Psoriatic Arthritis

Abstract

Maria Maddalena Angioni,1 Alberto Floris,1 Ignazio Cangemi,1 Mattia Congia,1 Elisabetta Chessa,1 Sandro Orrù,2 Matteo Piga,1 Alberto Cauli1 1Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, University Clinic AOU, Cagliari, 09042, Italy; 2Medical Genetics, Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, 09042, ItalyCorrespondence: Maria Maddalena AngioniRheumatology Unit, Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, University Clinic AOU Cagliari, S.S. 554, Bivio per Sestu, Monserrato, Cagliari, 09042, ItalyTel [phone]Email [email protected]: Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) is a multifactorial disease, where the relative burden of genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors in clinical course and damage accrual is not yet definitively clarified. In clinical practice, there is a real need for useful candidate biomarkers in PsA diagnosis and disease progression, by exploring its underlying transcriptomic and epigenomic mechanisms. This work aims to profile the transcriptome in monozygotic (MZ) twins with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) highly concordant for clinical presentation, but discordant for the radiographic outcomes’ severity.Methods: We describe i) the clinical case of two MZ twins; ii) their comparative gene expression profiling (HTA 2.0 Affymetrix) and iii) signal pathways and pathophysiological processes in which differentially expressed genes are involved (in silico analysis by the IPA software, QIAGEN).Results: One hundred sixty-three transcripts and 36 coding genes (28 up and 8 down) were differentially expressed between twins, and in the brother with the most erosive form, the transcriptomic profiling highlights the overexpression of genes known to be involved in immunomodulatory processes and on a broad spectrum of PsA manifestations.Discussion: Twins’ clinical cases are still a gold mine in medical research: twin brothers are ideal experimental models in estimating the relative importance of genetic versus nongenetic components as determinants of complex phenotypes, non-Mendelian and multifactorial diseases as PsA.Keywords: psoriatic arthritis, gene expression profiling, diseases in twin, genetic, environment–gene interaction, joint erosions

Keywords

• psoriatic arthritis
• gene expression profiling
• diseases in twin
• genetic
• environment-gene interaction
• joint erosions