Figure 4.

MiR-21 is decreased in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and CD4⁺ T cells from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. (A) PBMCs (3 × 10⁶) were isolated from RA patients (n = 25) and healthy control (n = 20), and miR-21 was quantified by real-time PCR. (B) Expression of miR-21 in sorted CD4⁺ T cells from RA patients (n = 5) and healthy control (n = 5) by real-time PCR. The expression of miR-21 in patients with RA is shown as relative levels compared with healthy controls. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, versus control (Student’s t-test). (C) The correlation between miR-21 expression level and the ratio of Th17/Treg cells in PBMC of RA patients (n = 12). The correlation was calculated by Spearman correlation analysis (Spearman r = −0.8126, P < 0.01).