Figure 10

Inhibition of the generation of fibroblast-like cells by silencing nuclear factor (NF)κB1 mRNA in bone marrow CD34+ cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Purified bone marrow CD34+ cells were transfected with small interfering RNA (siRNA) for NFκB1 or a scrambled sequence control siRNA, after which the cells were incubated in culture medium with stem cell factor (10 ng/ml), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (1 ng/ml) and tumor necrosis factor-α (10 ng/ml) for 4 weeks with no medium changes. Morphological changes were observed under light microscopy. The percentages of fibroblast-like cells were calculated from two view fields at ×20 magnifications. The degree of the generation of fibroblast-like cells were scored as follows: 0, fibroblast-like cells <5%; 1, fibroblast-like cells 5% to 25%; 2, fibroblast-like cells 25% to 50%; 3, fibroblast-like cells >50%; 4, formation of a pile or a cluster in at least one view field. Statistical significance was evaluated by Wilcoxon's signed rank test.