The incidence of arthritis has steadily increased in recent years, accompanied by complex pathological changes. Arthritis is among the leading causes of disability worldwide. However, research on its pathogenesis and therapeutic targets remains insufficient, necessitating novel approaches to elucidate disease mechanisms. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) enables not only the construction of cellular atlases of joint tissues but also the identification of key cell subpopulations and molecular targets driving disease progression, thereby resolving gene expression heterogeneity at the single-cell level. Increasingly applied in arthritis research, scRNA-seq offers new avenues for exploring pathogenesis and developing therapeutic targets. This review systematically summarizes the technical advantages of scRNA-seq, discusses its application prospects and challenges in arthritis pathogenesis and research on treatment with traditional Chinese medicine, and provides a reference for in-depth mechanistic studies and the development of novel Chinese herbal therapeutics.

single-cell RNA sequencing  /  traditional Chinese medicine  /  pathogenesis  /  rheumatoid arthritis  /  osteoarthritis  /  gouty arthritis