Chinese scientists reveal a new pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic autoimmune disease
.
The multifunctional protein neuronal navigation protein 2 (NAV2) mainly regulates the growth, migration and regeneration
of neurons in the nervous system.
The specific role of NAV2 in RA is still unknown
.
Recently, a joint research team from Macau University of Science and Technology, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Beijing Aerospace Center Hospital revealed a new mechanism of
rheumatoid arthritis.
The results were published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy under the title "STAT3-NAV2 axis as a new therapeutic target for rheumatoid arthritis via activating SSH1L/Cofilin-1 signaling pathway"
.

This study is the first to find that the STAT3-NAV2 axis plays an important role
in rheumatoid arthritis through the joint analysis of clinical samples, super enhancer sequencing, and basic experiments.
Inhibition of NAV2 expression in RA fibrous synovial cells (FLS) can reverse inflammation-related phenotypes and prevent the progression
of RA by regulating the SSH1L/Cofilin-1 signaling pathway.
It was found that the elevated expression of transcription factor STAT3 can significantly enhance the transcriptional activity of NAV2, and can play a role
in close binding with NAV2.

The study confirmed NAV2 as a novel regulator of RA FLS in proliferation, migration and invasion, revealing the potential role
of NAV2 and its transcription factor STAT3 in a variety of autoimmune diseases.
As a potential molecular target, STAT3-NAV2 axis provides a new research direction for inhibiting inflammatory diseases such as RA, which has important scientific value and clinical significance
.