Quantification of Y RNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with ankylosing spondylitis and healthy controls

ABSTRACT Objective To investigate the expression of Y1, Y3, Y4, and Y5 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with ankylosing spondylitis and healthy controls. Methods This case-control study included 10 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and 18 healthy controls from northern and northwestern Paraná, Brazil. The diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis was confirmed by a rheumatologist according to the 2009 and 2011 ASAS criteria. Total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood using TRIzol reagent, treated with DNase I, and reverse-transcribed into cDNA. Y RNA expression was quantified by qPCR using SYBR™ Green, and the data were analyzed using Thermo Fisher Cloud. Results Overall Y RNA expression did not differ significantly between patients and controls; however, lower ΔCt values, indicating higher Y1 and Y5 expression, were significantly associated with higher Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) scores. Pairwise comparisons showed that Y3 and Y4 were expressed at lower levels than Y1 and that Y4 expression was lower than Y3 and Y5 expression; no significant differences were observed between Y1 and Y5 or between Y3 and Y5 in either patients or controls. Conclusion These findings suggest that Y1 and Y5 expression is associated with disease activity, although no statistically significant differences in overall Y RNA expression were observed between patients and controls.