The effect of ginger supplementation on some immunity and inflammation intermediate genes expression in patients with active Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract Objective Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ginger supplementation on the expression of some immunity and inflammation intermediate genes in patients who suffer from RA. Methods In this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial, seventy active RA patients were allocated randomly into two groups who either received 1500 mg ginger powder or placebo daily for 12 weeks. Disease activity score and gene expression of NF-κB, PPAR-γ, FoxP3, T-bet, GATA-3, and RORγt as immunity and inflammation intermediate factors were measured using quantitative real-time PCR before and after the intervention. Results After the intervention, FoxP3 genes expression increased significantly within ginger group and between the two groups (P-value = 0.02). Besides, T-bet and RORγt genes expression decreased significantly between the two groups (P-value  Conclusion It seems that ginger can improve RA by decreasing disease manifestations via increasing FoxP3 genes expression and by decreasing RORγt and T-bet genes expression.