Volume 17 Issue 10, October 2021

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has been used to treat a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus, marking the first time this approach has been successfully used to treat an autoimmune disease.

A study published in Nature shows the effects of ageing on skeletal stem cells (SSCs) and how aged SSCs affect haematopoiesis, bone turnover and fracture repair.

New research shows that metabolic modulation can restore immune tolerance induction by anti-CD45RB antibodies in lupus-prone mice and reduce systemic lupus erythematosus-like pathology.

The development of treatments for systemic sclerosis has historically been hampered by the clinical heterogeneity of the disease and limited understanding of its pathogenesis. Encouragingly, advances including the identification of important molecular targets and improvements in clinical trial design have now greatly increased the number of investigative therapies.

Limited data suggest associations between air pollution and rheumatic disease risk and outcomes. More sophisticated research is needed to clarify the conditions under which air pollution might influence the health of people with rheumatic disease, including their response to biologic drugs.

Most rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) fall along a spectrum of disorders from autoinflammatory diseases to autoimmune diseases, with ‘mixed-pattern’ RMDs having features of autoinflammation and autoimmunity. A better understanding of the pathogenic pathways of autoinflammation and autoimmunity in RMDs should enhance targeted treatment strategies.

A growing body of evidence implicates epigenetic aberrations in systemic sclerosis pathogenesis, including epigenetic changes that affect immune cells, endothelial cells and fibroblasts, and suggests potential new avenues for therapy.

Blood vessels perform vital roles in the skeletal system during development and homeostasis, and both participate in and are affected by inflammation. In this Review, the authors highlight the roles of endothelial cells during bone development, homeostasis and disease.

In this Review, the authors assess the current understanding of symptomatic early-stage knee osteoarthritis, including its diagnosis and classification, and highlight important gaps in knowledge that will need to be addressed to enable effective management.

In this Consensus Statement, members of the Gout, Hyperuricemia and Crystal-Associated Disease Network (G-CAN) highlight gaps in knowledge about the management of gout in people with chronic kidney disease, and identify important areas for future research to address challenges in the treatment of this patient population.