Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is chronic inflammatory disease characterized by the
development of hypercellular pannus tissue in the affected joints of patients. Pannus invasiveness and
activation correlates with stronger tissue destruction and worse clinical prognosis. Using murine arthritis
model, we recently discovered that synovial concentration of Collagen Triple Helix Repeat-containing
1 (CTHRC1) message and protein is directly correlated with arthritis severity. In carcinogenesis,
overexpression of CTHRC1 is associated with enhanced metastatic potential of solid tumors and increased
cell motility. Our goal is to investigate the mechanism of synovial cell motility and invasiveness and the
role of non-canonical WNT signaling in pannus development