Synoviolin is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident E3 ubiquitin ligase which plays a critical role in ER-associated degradation (ERAD). We found that Synoviolin is a novel causative factor for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which is especially up-regulated in proliferating synovial cells in the disease. We attempted to examine the role of Synoviolin in ER stress-induced apoptosis and proliferation of synovial cells. RA synovial cells (RSCs) were refractory to ER stress-induced apoptosis compared with HEK293 or HeLa cells. RSCs were also more resistant to the apoptosis than synovial cells from osteoarthritis patients, significantly. Down-regulation of Synoviolin by siRNA increased the susceptibility to ER stress-induced apoptosis in RSCs. Knock-down of Synoviolin by siRNA did not only induce apoptosis of RSCs but also inhibited their proliferation in vitro. These data suggest that RSCs are extraordinarily refractory to ER stress-induced apoptosis, and we termed this special property ‘hyper-ERAD’. Since Synoviolin is overexpressed in RSCs, and is known to play a critical role in the ERAD system as E3 ubiquitin ligase, hyper-ERAD is likely to present in these cells. Subsequently, the hyper-ERAD may cause synovial hyperplasia through its anti-apoptotic effect in RA. Further analyses are necessary to address this point, however, resistance to ER stress-induced apoptosis, or hyper-ERAD is a noteworthy new cellular characteristic of RSCs.

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