FRI0005 CHROMATIN CONTACTS AND TRANSCRIPTOMICS IN CD4+ T-CELLS REVEAL GENES IMPLICATED IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation of synovial joints. RA is a clinically heterogeneous disease and treatment response varies between individuals. The pathogenesis of RA is not completely understood yet, but it has been shown that the largest factor influencing disease susceptibility is genetics. Genome-wide association studies have successfully characterized genetic variants that are associated with RA, with the vast majority of them mapping to non-coding regulatory elements. Understanding the mechanisms by which this phenomenon leads to disease is essential to translate results from genetic association studies to the clinic. Objectives There is evidence showing that autoimmune diseases are the consequence of erroneous wiring of the regulatory circuitry between enhancers and their target genes. The aim of this study is to characterize non-coding regions containing RA-associated variants, in order to determine the genes and pathways by which these regions act to increase the risk of disease. Methods We isolated CD4+ T-cells from blood obtained from RA patients. We stratified patients in two subgroups, high disease activity (DAS28>5.1, n=18) and low disease activity (DAS28 Results We observed numerous chromatin interactions between RA variants and potential causal genes. Preliminary results show that a number of disease-associated SNPs interact with compelling candidate genes situated several megabases away. Whilst some of these chromatin interactions are common to both patients groups, subsets of them are specific to each disease subgroup, which are correlated with differential gene expression. Conclusion These results suggests that there might be different biological pathways contributing to disease in RA patients with inactive disease compared to patients with high disease activity. Disclosure of Interests None declared