Fig. 4.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription‐3 STAT‐3 mediates dendritic cell (DC) maturation in the synovial microenvironment. [a (i)] The relative expression of STAT‐3 in monocyte‐derived DC (MoDC) treated with 10% explant‐conditioned media (ECM) for 6 h (n = 7). (ii) Dot‐plot and histogram representing mean fluorescent intensity (MFI) of pSTAT‐3 in MoDC treated with 10% ECM (n = 7). (b) Relative expression of the inflammatory genes interleukin (IL)‐12p40, IL‐1b, IL‐23p19 and CCR7 in MoDC treated with 10% ECM for 24 h in the presence or absence of Stattic (5 µM). Cells were pretreated with 6‐nitrobenzo[b]thiophene‐1,1‐dioxide (Stattic) for 1 h prior to ECM treatment. Dashed line represents basal expression of genes. (b) Relative expression of glycolytic genes PDK‐1 and GSK3a in MoDC treated with 10% ECM for 6 h in the presence or absence of Stattic (5 µM). Cells were pretreated with Stattic for 2 h prior to ECM treatment. Dashed line represents basal expression of genes. (c) Volcano plots following RNA‐Seq analysis, depicting genes involved in cellular metabolism which are differentially expressed between synovial CD1c⁺ DC and peripheral blood CD1c⁺ DC in RA patients (n = 3). Orange cluster represents genes expressed in CD1c⁺ DC isolated from peripheral blood, whereas the green cluster represents genes expressed in CD1c⁺ DC isolated from synovial fluid. Data were analysed using a paired t‐test. *P < 0·05, **P < 0·01 significantly different from basal.