Implication of Synoviolin in pathogenesis of arthropathy

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the common disorders characterized with overgrowth of articular synovial cells, so-called 'pannus', and autoimmune reaction. To understand the pathomechanism of RA, we attempted to characterize the rheumatoid synovial cell and found a novel membranous protein, Synoviolin (synovial cell⁺ protein). Its overexpression causes arthropathy, resembling RA in mice. Moreover, the heterozygote of synoviolin (+/-) is resistant to anticollagen antibody-induced arthritis. These 'gain of function' and 'loss of function' analyses clearly indicate the pathogenetic role of synoviolin in arthropathy.