Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis is a common autoimmune disease primarily characterized by chronic inflammation, the formation of an invasive pannus, and destruction of the joints. In the present study, we employed real-time PCR and western blot analysis to investigate the role of dulaglutide in human fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). The results of our study show that dulaglutide exerted a powerful protective effect by rescuing mitochondrial membrane potential, inhibiting the production of NOX-4, and abrogating TNF-α-induced downregulation of the antioxidant GSH. Our findings demonstrate that dulaglutide significantly ameliorated the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines including IL-1β, IL-6, MCP-1, and HMGB-1. Matrix metalloproteinases mediate cartilage destruction, thereby aiding in pannus formation. Our findings indicate that dulaglutide treatment significantly downregulated the expression of MMP-3 and MMP-13, two crucial degradative enzymes. Importantly, the results of our study demonstrate that the beneficial effects of dulaglutide are mediated through the JNK/NF-κB signaling pathway, which has been suggested as a potential treatment target against RA. Taken together, the results of this study show that dulaglutide may exert significant protective effects against the progression of RA induced by TNF-α.