{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T22:31:04Z","timestamp":1779316264903,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,20]],"date-time":"2025-03-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1742428800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell Dev. Biol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease in which autophagy is pivotal in its pathogenesis. This study aims to identify autophagy-related genes associated with RA and investigate their functional roles.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We performed mRNA sequencing to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between RA and osteoarthritis (OA) and intersected these with autophagy-related genes to obtain autophagy-related DEGs (ARDEGs) in RA. Bioinformatics and machine learning approaches were used to identify key biomarkers. Functional experiments, including real-time cellular analysis (RTCA), scratch healing, and flow cytometry, were conducted to examine the effects of gene silencing on the proliferation and migration of MH7A cells.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 37 ARDEGs were identified in RA. Through bioinformatics analysis, interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) emerged as a key hub gene, with its high expression confirmed in RA synovial tissues and RA FLS cells. IRF4 knockdown inhibited the proliferation and migration and promoted the death of MH7A cells.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>IRF4 is an autophagy-related diagnostic biomarker for RA. Targeting IRF4 could serve as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic strategy for RA, although further clinical studies are required to validate its effectiveness.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcell.2025.1563911","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,20]],"date-time":"2025-03-20T08:29:46Z","timestamp":1742459386000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Comprehensive analysis and validation of autophagy-related gene in rheumatoid arthritis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Runrun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wenhan","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ting","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jintao","family":"Fang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Cen","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dongyi","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xinchang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","volume-title":"Differential expression of RNA-Seq data at the gene level \u2013 the DESeq package","author":"Anders","year":"2012"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1016\/j.intimp.2018.09.011","article-title":"Enhanced neutrophil autophagy and increased concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and MCP-1 in rheumatoid arthritis","volume":"65","author":"An","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. 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