AUTHOR=Hegewald Anett B., Breitwieser Kai, Ottinger Sarah M., Mobarrez Fariborz, Korotkova Marina, Rethi Bence, Jakobsson Per-Johan, Catrina Anca I., Wähämaa Heidi, Saul Meike J. TITLE=Extracellular miR-574-5p Induces Osteoclast Differentiation via TLR 7/8 in Rheumatoid Arthritis JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=11 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.585282 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2020.585282 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by synovial inflammation and joint destruction. Cell-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEV) mediate cell-to-cell communication in the synovial microenvironment by carrying microRNAs (miRs), a class of small non-coding RNAs. Herein, we report that sEV from synovial fluid promote osteoclast differentiation which is attributed to high levels of extracellular miR-574-5p. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time that enhanced osteoclast maturation is mediated by Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8 signaling which is activated by miR-574-5p binding. This is a novel mechanism by which sEV and miRs contribute to RA pathogenesis and indicate that pharmacological inhibition of extracellular miR-574-5p might offer new therapeutic strategies to protect osteoclast-mediated bone destruction in RA.