Volume 14 Issue 9, September 2018

Large-scale genetic studies have highlighted the retinoic acid pathway as a contender in the pathogenesis of hand osteoarthritis. Functional studies are offering further insights into the role of retinoic acid that might translate into future therapies.

Combining TNF inhibition with methotrexate treatment is an effective therapeutic approach for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and reduces the likelihood of the patient developing ‘resistance’ to the TNF inhibitor. But how does methotrexate suppress the production of anti-drug antibodies and how can we tell which patients will develop resistance?

Mental health symptoms are a common and functionally impairing feature of rheumatoid arthritis, and increasingly seem to represent an integral part of the inflammatory process. Could treatment with DMARDs affect physical as well as mental health outcomes?

Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), an important component of the cytosolic DNA sensing pathway, is an attractive therapeutic target for ameliorating interferon-driven systemic inflammation. New findings are shedding light on how STING functions and on a strategy to target STING therapeutically.

The two major lung complications in systemic sclerosis, lung fibrosis and pulmonary arterial hypertension, share some pathogenic mechanisms. Strategies for managing patients with these complications have greatly advanced in the past decade, and many tools and treatments are now available.

S100 proteins have many intracellular functions, as well as being extracellular signalling molecules in inflammation. A deeper understanding of this family of proteins could lead the way to diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and novel therapeutic strategies.

Preclinical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by the presence of RA-related autoantibodies in the serum in the absence of clinical symptoms. This Review discusses the relationships during this period between mucosal alterations and the initiation of local and systemic anti-citrullinated protein antibody production.