Rituximab Downregulates Gene Expression Associated with Cell Proliferation, Survival, and Proteolysis in the Peripheral Blood from Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: A Link between High Baseline Autophagy-Related ULK1 Expression and Improved Pain Control

Figure 1

Relative expression of the genes MTOR (a), ULK1 (b), p21 (c), caspase 3 (d), IFNα (e), MMP-9 (f), cathepsin K (g), TNFα (h), IL-1β (i), and COX2 (j) with reference to β-actin as determined using real-time PCR analyses in whole blood from RA patients () compared to healthy controls (). The controls are shown as 1.0 as required for relative quantification with the real-time PCR protocol. Asterisks () indicate significant differences from the control in pairwise comparisons (Mann-Whitney test). The number signs () show significant differences from baseline in pairwise comparisons (Wilcoxon matched pairs test).

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