Differential Gene Expression Analysis of Major Macrophage and Fibroblast Subtypes in Lung Disease Related to Rheumatoid Arthritis

1

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) significantly impacts health, with interstitial lung disease (ILD) being a major extra-articular complication.
2

RA-ILD occurs nine times more frequently than in matched controls and accounts for 10% to 20% of excess mortality in RA.
3

Advanced RA-ILD shares histopathologic features with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), including poor survival rates.
4

Machine learning tools have identified protein mediators that distinguish RA-ILD from RA without ILD, even in subclinical cases.
5

Single-cell RNA sequencing has been utilized to analyze transcriptomic profiles in RA-ILD, revealing macrophage and fibroblast interactions.

Arthritis & Rheumatology

by Tracy Tabib, Ogechukwu Ezenwa, Joshua Sciurba, Eleanor B. Valenzi, John Sembrat, Brittany Cody, Jishnu Das, Robert Lafyatis, Dana P. Ascherman
July 8, 2026

1