Volume 13 Issue 4, April 2017

Updated recommendations for the management of axial spondyloarthritis provide a useful framework for physicians treating this disease. However, the guidance on use of biologic therapies and treat-to-target strategies seems to raise more questions than it answers.

The increased risk of mortality in patients with gout is increasingly recognized, and multiple guidelines call for better management of this disease and its comorbidities. A new study, however, has found that excess mortality in patients with gout has remained unchanged since 1999.

A pioneering new study scrutinising the genetic aetiology of Sjögren syndrome across different ancestries and clinical subtypes shows that the striking heterogeneity of associations observed in Sjögren syndrome cannot be explained by subphenotype differences alone.

This Review outlines what a rheumatologist needs to know about the development and advances in CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technologies. The authors discuss the direct applications to rheumatic diseases, which are currently limited but are certain to increase rapidly in the near future.

In this Review, the authors discuss the function of the TNF and TNF receptor superfamily, their role in rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, and how current knowledge is being translated into potential disease therapies.

Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors are emerging therapeutic agents for the treatment of rheumatic inflammatory diseases. In this Review, the author outlines the safety profile of JAK inhibitors, discussing the potential adverse effects associated with these drugs, such as malignancy, infections and reactivation of herpes zoster.

In this Review, the authors discuss the therapeutic application of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in different autoimmune diseases, describing the immunological mechanisms and the risks and benefits of this procedure.