Objective The semaphorins are membrane or secreted proteins first identified in neural development. Semaphorin 4D (Sema4D) is the first family member found to have immune properties. We evaluated the potential of Sema4D as a marker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity, singly and in combination with other known biomarkers including rheumatoid factor (RF) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Methods Three hundred and eleven RA patients were enrolled. The patients were divided into three groups based on their disease activity in 28 joints (DAS28): mild, moderate, and severe. The healthy group included 40 healthy individuals. SerumSema4D was measured by quantitative ELISA and the specificity and sensitivity of biomarkers were evaluated by generating a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to analyze their diagnostic accuracy. Results Serum Sema4D levels in the moderate and severe RA groups were elevated significantly above those of the controls (P < 0.01), while levels in the mild RA and control groups did not differ significantly (P > 0.05). The Sema4D cutoff threshold was 15.7 ng/ml when the DAS28 was applied as a reference. Compared to the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR and CRP, Sema4D had the highest specificity (96.8%) and area under the curve (0.80) for diagnosing RA activity. The highest specificity (100%) for the biomarker combinations was obtained when Sema4D was combined with CRP and anti-CCP, the combination of the Sema4D combined with ESR and anti-CCP had the highest sensitivity (99.35%). According to this result, a new model for jointly calculating RA activity of Sema4D,anti-CCP and CRP was constructed. Meanwhile another model is established by using the method of multivariate analysis.Model comparison results showed the the multiple regression algorithm method fitted the patients' disease activity better. Conclusion The serum Sema 4D level effectively reflects moderate to severe RA activity. Sema4D levels can be used together with conventional RA biomarkers to increase the diagnostic power of RA activity. The multiple regression algorithm method is promising in disease activity calculation.

Objective:To evaluate the association between microRNA gene polymorphisms and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using Meta-analysis.Methods:A systematic search of Chinese biomedical literature database, VIP database, Wanfang data, CNKI, PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase database was performed to identify articles reporting on the association between microRNA gene polymorphisms and RA. The search time limit was from the inception of the database to May 1, 2020. The references of retrieved articles were manually searched to ensure the comprehensiveness of the retrieval. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria were included to conduct data extraction and quality evaluation. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the data, and evaluated the risk of bias in the included studies. A Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 15.1 software.Results:A total of 14 cohort studies were included, involving 1945 RA cases and 2405 controls. Meta-analysis results showed that the expression level of G/G genotype of miR-146a in RA patients was significantly higher than that in normal controls [OR=1.15, 95%CI (1.00, 1.33), P=0.048], other phenotypes were not significantly associated with the risk of RA [C/C: OR=0.94, 95%CI (0.83, 1.07), P=0.353; G/C: OR=0.92, 95%CI(0.82,1.03), P=0.135]. The C/T genotype of miR-499 in RA patients was significantly lower than that in normal controls [OR=0.84, 95%CI (0.72,1.00), P=0.044], there were no significant differences in other genotypes [T/T: OR=0.97, 95%CI (0.77,1.24), P=0.831; C/C: OR=1.40, 95%CI (0.96,2.05), P=0.713]. Analysis of subgroups by race showed that there was no statistically significant association between the polymorphisms of miR-146a and miR-499 and the incidence of RA in Caucasian and Asian populations (P＞0.05).Conclusion:This study find that the G/G genotype of miR-146a and C/T genotype of miR-499 are related to genetic susceptibility to RA.

Objective To make a visual bibliometric analysis of the development trend of interstitial lung diseases and research hotspots in international fields, and to provide reference information for the development of interstitial lung diseases research in China.Methods Using Citespace 5.5 software and Web of Science database as data source, the year, country, journal and keywords of interstitial lung diseases published in recent ten years were analyzed visually.Results A total of 6098 literatures were retrieved, and the number of articles published has gradually increased since 2011. The country with the largest number of articles published is the United States, the highest cited rate of journal is AM J RESP CRIT CARE, and the authors with the highest number of articles and citations are Toby M Maher and Raghu G, respectively. The research focus in this field are epidemiology, inflammation and pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment.Conclusion The international attention and research level of interstitial lung disease are increasing recently. Exploring the research hotspot and development trend in this field can provide direction and basis for China to keep up with the international research trend of interstitial lung disease.