Abstract
BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term, progressive autoimmune disease. It is characterized by synovial hyperplasia leading to swelling, stiffness, and joint deformity in more than one joint. Fibroblast-like synoviocytes are the major cell types that make up the synovial intima structure, which is one of the decisive factors in the development and course of rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: The potential therapeutic effects of MSCs-derived miRNA-124a overexpression exosomes were evaluated in vitro by the method including MTT assay and cell cycle test for cell proliferation, scratch wound closure and transwell for cell migration, flow cytometry and western for the apoptosis detection. RESULTS: Exosomes derived from human MSCs that overexpression miRNA-124a were prepared and characterized. We found that the pretreatment of this exosome was able to inhibit the proliferation and migration of fibroblast-like synoviocyte cell line and promote the apoptosis of this cell during the co-incubation. CONCLUSIONS: Exosomes derived from MSCs were proved to be a suitable vector for the delivery of therapeutic miRNA-124a, and such miRNA-124a overexpression exosomes were expected to provide a new medicine and strategy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.