Volume 15 Issue 4, April 2019

Negative results of yet another IL-1 inhibitor in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis add to a pool of data indicating that this strategy does not reduce pain or inflammation and is thereby a dead end. Should we therefore shelve further plans to test or use this therapeutic strategy?

New research indicates that tocilizumab limits the beneficial effects of exercise on abdominal fat loss. What does this mean for patients with chronic disease who are being treated with tocilizumab or other inhibitors of IL-6 signalling?

New disease activity measures are needed for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Is the new SLE-DAS better than existing measures or are other instruments, or combined scoring methods, required to manage the spectrum of SLE?

Antibody therapeutics are a mainstay of treating patients with rheumatic diseases but are mostly basic monoclonal structures. What can the history of and modern developments in antibody technology tell us about the next generation of antibody-based therapeutics?

Many potentially disease-modifying therapies for systemic sclerosis (SSc) are under investigation in clinical and preclinical studies. Here, Volkman and Varga review the targets and purported mechanisms of action of these therapies in the context of our evolving understanding of SSc pathophysiology.

Bone turnover and risk of fracture are orchestrated by homeostatic functions of osteoclast–osteoblast bone remodelling units. Anabolic and antiresorptive drugs used to treat and prevent fractures have differing effects on remodelling defects, but which class of drug is the preferred front-line therapy?

Platelets mediate inflammatory responses by facilitating immune cell crosstalk and participating in inflammatory signalling cascades. In this Review, the authors discuss the emerging role of platelet signalling pathways in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.