{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]],"date-time":"2026-07-02T14:50:05Z","timestamp":1783003805320,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,25]],"date-time":"2025-12-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766620800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["82230127"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82230127"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["82174511"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82174511"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Genes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by persistent joint inflammation and progressive bone destruction. However, its complex pathogenesis remains poorly understood, and effective therapeutic targets are still lacking. Objective: This study aimed to identify key genes associated with RA and elucidate their biological significance by integrating bioinformatic analysis with experimental validation. Methods: Whole-transcriptome data from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of Complete Freund\u2019s Adjuvant (CFA)-induced inflammatory pain and control mice (GSE147216 dataset, GEO database) were collected from NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were first identified. Subsequent analyses included Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment, construction of a protein\u2013protein interaction (PPI) network, and identification of hub genes using a Random Forest machine learning algorithm. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) was performed to validate gene expression levels. Results: A total of 76 DEGs were identified, including 64 upregulated and 12 downregulated genes. Among them, Fn1 (fibronectin 1), Bgn (biglycan), and Lum (lumican) were identified as hub genes. Functional enrichment analysis revealed inflammatory responses, extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, and the TGF-\u03b2 signaling pathway. qPCR validation confirmed significant upregulation of Fn1, Bgn, and Lum mRNA in the CFA group. Conclusions: This study highlights the potential roles of Fn1, Bgn, and Lum in the central sensitization associated with inflammatory pain, offering insights relevant to RA.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/genes17010015","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,25]],"date-time":"2025-12-25T23:52:27Z","timestamp":1766706747000},"page":"15","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Transcriptome Profiling of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in a CFA-Induced Inflammatory Pain Model Identifies ECM-Related Genes in a Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Guang-Xin","family":"Xie","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Basic Medicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Acupuncture for Senile Disease, Ministry of Education, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Chronobiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jian-Mei","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-6235-1089","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bai-Tong","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Acupuncture for Senile Disease, Ministry of Education, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Chronobiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiang-Tao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Acupuncture for Senile Disease, Ministry of Education, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Chronobiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lu-Shuang","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Basic Medicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiao-Yi","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Acupuncture for Senile Disease, Ministry of Education, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Chronobiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiao-Feng","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Acupuncture for Senile Disease, Ministry of Education, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Chronobiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1413-8989","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shu-Guang","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Acupuncture for Senile Disease, Ministry of Education, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Chronobiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China"},{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1186\/s40364-025-00760-8","article-title":"Global, regional and national burden of rheumatoid arthritis from 1990 to 2021, with projections of incidence to 2050: A systematic and comprehensive analysis of the Global Burden of Disease study 2021","volume":"13","author":"Ma","year":"2025","journal-title":"Biomark. 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