Objective To investigate the serum level of calcium-binding protein A9(S100A9)in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and explore its potential clinical significance. Methods The serum level of S100A9 was measured by ELISA in 79 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and 20 healthy controls (HC). The correlation of S100A9 level and relevant clinical parameters were analyzed. Results The serum level of S100A9 was significantly increase in RA patients than those in HC. The serum level of S100A9 was higher in high disease activity than that in moderate and low disease activity in the RA group. There was a positive correlation in serum S100A9 level and DAS28 score,Rheumatoid factor,tender joint count and swollen joint count. Conclusion The serum level of S100A9 increases in RA patients and correlates with RA activity.

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of transcription factor SOX5 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and serum in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods The relative expression of representative genes of the SOX gene family in the PBMCs from RA patients were detected by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), and serum levels of SOX5 expression were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 30 RA patients, 27 osteoarthritis (OA) patients and 30 healthy controls (HC). The expression levels of SOX5 in PBMCs were detected by RT-PCR after stimulated with IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-17 for 24 hours. The relationship between SOX5 and receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) was detected by co-Immunoprecipitation (co-IP). The formation of TRAP-positive cells after silence SOX5 in osteoclast precursor cell treated with RANKL was observed by Tartrate-resistant acid phasphate stain (TRAP). The differences were tested using one-way ANOVA followed by Student-Newman-Keuls post hoc analysis Correlations were analyzed using Pearson's analysis. Results SOX5 was predominantly expressed in the PBMCs of RA as compared with other SOX family genes in PBMC. PBMC levels of SOX5 in RA patients (21±19) were higher than the OA patients (10±8) and healthy control group (5±4)(F=8.343, P<0.01). While, Serum levels of SOX5 in RA patients [(19132±12054) pg/ml were higher than the OA patients [(9065±15172) pg/ml] and healthy control group [(3242±1251) pg/ml] (F=15.31, P<0.01). IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-17 led to the up-regulation of SOX5 expression in PBMCs. IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β promoted the interaction of SOX5 and RANKL in PBMCs. Silencing SOX5 reduced the formation of TRAP-positive cells in osteoclast precursor cell treated with RANKL. Conclusion Our results have proven that transcriptional factor SOX5 regulates the expression of RANKL and participates in the process of RA bone erosion. Inhibition of SOX5 expression may be a new therapy target of RA.

ObjectiveTo systematically sort out the knowledge framework and conceptual logic relationship of "disease-syndrome-treatment-prescription-medicine" in the existing literature on traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy（DPN）， to construct of the knowledge map of TCM treatment of DPN， and to promote the explicitation of the implicit knowledge in the literature on the treatment of DPN with TCM. MethodTaking the literature of China National Knowledge Infrastructure about TCM treatment of DPN as the main data source， TCM-related concepts and entities were constructed by manual citation， and the corresponding relationships between the entities were established. Structured data were formed by processing with Python 3.7， and the knowledge graph was constructed based on Neo4j 3.5.34 graph database. ResultThe resulting knowledge graph with TCM diagnosis and treatment logic， defined 12 node labels such as prescriptions， Chinese medicines and syndrome types at the schema layer， as well as 4 types of relationships， such as inclusion， correspondence， selection and composition. It could support the query and discovery of nodes（syndrome elements， syndrome types and treatment methods）， as well as the relationship between each node. ConclusionBased on the literature data， this study constructed a knowledge map for TCM treatment of DPN， which brought together various methods of TCM treatment of DPN， including internal and external treatment. The whole chain knowledge structure of syndrome differentiation and classification for DPN treatment is formed from syndrome element analysis， syndrome type composition to treatment method selection， which can provide new ideas and methods for literature data to serve clinical and scientific research work， as well as reference for visualization of TCM literature knowledge， intellectualization of TCM knowledge services and the standardization of TCM diagnosis and treatment.