Fibroblast-like synoviocytes-derived exosomal circFTO deteriorates rheumatoid arthritis by enhancing N6-methyladenosine modification of SOX9 in chondrocytes.

"Declarations Ethical approvalThis study was carried out under the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki and received approval from the Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University. All participants provided written informed consent. The protocols for conducting animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University (2020-YKL03-004). All animal experiments followed the guidelines provided by the National Institutes of Health Committee on the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals from the Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources. Consent for publicationNot applicable. Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests."

"Funding This study was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82071821), Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. BK20201222), The Fifth Phase of “333 Project” Scientific Research Project of Jiangsu Province in 2020 (No. BRA2020175), Yangzhou University “High-end Talent Plan” Top Talent Growth Plan (2019), and special fund for medical innovation and transformation of Yangzhou University (AHYZUCXTD 202105)."