Abstract
IL-6 is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in many biological functions that affect tissues beyond the immune system and the vasculature. This multifunctional cytokine exerts its actions via ...the classic signalling pathway when it binds to the transmembrane IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) or via the trans-signalling pathway upon binding to the soluble form of IL-6R (sIL-6R). In general, classic IL-6 signalling is responsible for the anti-inflammatory properties of IL-6, whereas trans-signalling is responsible for the pro-inflammatory actions of IL-6. As a result, dysregulation of the IL-6 axis can lead to the onset or development of several disease states, particularly autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, including RA and GCA. This pathological role of IL-6 means that pharmacologic modulation of the IL-6 axis is a rational therapeutic approach; however, multiple predictable, but often underappreciated, effects on tissues and organs beyond the blood vessels may also occur.
Eur J Clin Invest 2011; 41 (12): 1361–1366
Background Inflammatory diseases are linked to enhanced bone loss. The effect of inflammation on bone is mediated by proinflammatory cytokines, which ...regulate bone formation as well as bone resorption thereby altering bone homeostasis.
Materials and methods In this article we summarize the key insights in cytokine regulation of bone. We describe the major pro‐ and anti‐inflammatory mediators, which are involved in the regulation of bone and describe the mechanisms by which these cytokines alter bone balance.
Results We describe the effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin (IL)‐ 1 family members, IL‐6, IL‐17 and interferons (IFN) on bone and discuss the mechanisms by which these individual cytokines affect the bone resorbing and the bone forming cells.
Conclusions Several proinflammatory cytokines (such as TNFa, IL‐1 and IL‐17) are major triggers for osteoclast activation explaining the enhanced bone loss during inflammation. Other such as IL‐12, IL‐18, IL‐33 and IFN are strong suppressors of osteoclast differentiation and inhibit bone loss. Thus the cytokine composition of an inflammatory tissue is decisive whether inflammation triggers bone loss or not.
Summary Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes progressive articular damage, functional loss, and comorbidity. The development of effective biologics and small-molecule ...kinase inhibitors in the past two decades has substantially improved clinical outcomes. Just as understanding of pathogenesis has led in large part to the development of drugs, so have mode-of-action studies of these specific immune-targeted agents revealed which immune pathways drive articular inflammation and related comorbidities. Cytokine inhibitors have definitively proven a critical role for tumour necrosis factor α and interleukin 6 in disease pathogenesis and possibly also for granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor. More recently, clinical trials with Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors have shown that cytokine receptors that signal through the JAK/STAT signalling pathway are important for disease, informing the pathogenetic function of additional cytokines (such as the interferons). Finally, successful use of costimulatory blockade and B-cell depletion in the clinic has revealed that the adaptive immune response and the downstream events initiated by these cells participate directly in synovial inflammation. Taken together, it becomes apparent that understanding the effects of specific immune interventions can elucidate definitive molecular or cellular nodes that are essential to maintain complex inflammatory networks that subserve diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
The pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis McInnes, Iain B; Schett, Georg
The New England journal of medicine,
2011-Dec-08, Letnik:
365, Številka:
23
Journal Article
Inflammation and its resolution is under-studied in medicine despite being essential for understanding the development of chronic inflammatory disease. In this review article, we discuss the ...resolution of inflammation in both a biological and translational context. We introduce the concept of impaired resolution leading to diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and asthma, as well as the cellular and molecular components that contribute to resolution of joint, gut, and lung inflammation, respectively. Finally, we discuss potential intervention strategies for fostering the resolution process, and their implications for the therapy of inflammatory diseases.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which predominantly affects the lungs and, under certain circumstances, leads ...to an excessive or uncontrolled immune activation and cytokine response in alveolar structures. The pattern of pro-inflammatory cytokines induced in COVID-19 has similarities to those targeted in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Several clinical studies are underway that test the effects of inhibiting IL-6, IL-1β or TNF or targeting cytokine signalling via Janus kinase inhibition in the treatment of COVID-19. Despite these similarities, COVID-19 and other zoonotic coronavirus-mediated diseases do not induce clinical arthritis, suggesting that a local inflammatory niche develops in alveolar structures and drives the disease process. COVID-19 constitutes a challenge for patients with inflammatory arthritis for several reasons, in particular, the safety of immune interventions during the pandemic. Preliminary data, however, do not suggest that patients with inflammatory arthritis are at increased risk of COVID-19.
Bone erosion is a central feature of rheumatoid arthritis and is associated with disease severity and poor functional outcome. Erosion of periarticular cortical bone, the typical feature observed on ...plain radiographs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, results from excessive local bone resorption and inadequate bone formation. The main triggers of articular bone erosion are synovitis, including the production of proinflammatory cytokines and receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL), as well as antibodies directed against citrullinated proteins. Indeed, both cytokines and autoantibodies stimulate the differentiation of bone-resorbing osteoclasts, thereby stimulating local bone resorption. Although current antirheumatic therapy inhibits both bone erosion and inflammation, repair of existing bone lesions, albeit physiologically feasible, occurs rarely. Lack of repair is due, at least in part, to active suppression of bone formation by proinflammatory cytokines. This Review summarizes the substantial progress that has been made in understanding the pathophysiology of bone erosions and discusses the improvements in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of such lesions.
Trial of Tocilizumab in Giant-Cell Arteritis Stone, John H; Tuckwell, Katie; Dimonaco, Sophie ...
The New England journal of medicine,
07/2017, Letnik:
377, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Giant-cell arteritis commonly relapses when glucocorticoids are tapered, and the prolonged use of glucocorticoids is associated with side effects. The effect of the interleukin-6 receptor alpha ...inhibitor tocilizumab on the rates of relapse during glucocorticoid tapering was studied in patients with giant-cell arteritis.
In this 1-year trial, we randomly assigned 251 patients, in a 2:1:1:1 ratio, to receive subcutaneous tocilizumab (at a dose of 162 mg) weekly or every other week, combined with a 26-week prednisone taper, or placebo combined with a prednisone taper over a period of either 26 weeks or 52 weeks. The primary outcome was the rate of sustained glucocorticoid-free remission at week 52 in each tocilizumab group as compared with the rate in the placebo group that underwent the 26-week prednisone taper. The key secondary outcome was the rate of remission in each tocilizumab group as compared with the placebo group that underwent the 52-week prednisone taper. Dosing of prednisone and safety were also assessed.
Sustained remission at week 52 occurred in 56% of the patients treated with tocilizumab weekly and in 53% of those treated with tocilizumab every other week, as compared with 14% of those in the placebo group that underwent the 26-week prednisone taper and 18% of those in the placebo group that underwent the 52-week prednisone taper (P<0.001 for the comparisons of either active treatment with placebo). The cumulative median prednisone dose over the 52-week period was 1862 mg in each tocilizumab group, as compared with 3296 mg in the placebo group that underwent the 26-week taper (P<0.001 for both comparisons) and 3818 mg in the placebo group that underwent the 52-week taper (P<0.001 for both comparisons). Serious adverse events occurred in 15% of the patients in the group that received tocilizumab weekly, 14% of those in the group that received tocilizumab every other week, 22% of those in the placebo group that underwent the 26-week taper, and 25% of those in the placebo group that underwent the 52-week taper. Anterior ischemic optic neuropathy developed in one patient in the group that received tocilizumab every other week.
Tocilizumab, received weekly or every other week, combined with a 26-week prednisone taper was superior to either 26-week or 52-week prednisone tapering plus placebo with regard to sustained glucocorticoid-free remission in patients with giant-cell arteritis. Longer follow-up is necessary to determine the durability of remission and safety of tocilizumab. (Funded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01791153 .).
The gut microbiome is a key regulator of bone health that affects postnatal skeletal development and skeletal involution. Alterations in microbiota composition and host responses to the microbiota ...contribute to pathological bone loss, while changes in microbiota composition that prevent, or reverse, bone loss may be achieved by nutritional supplements with prebiotics and probiotics. One mechanism whereby microbes influence organs of the body is through the production of metabolites that diffuse from the gut into the systemic circulation. Recently, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which are generated by fermentation of complex carbohydrates, have emerged as key regulatory metabolites produced by the gut microbiota. This Review will focus on the effects of SCFAs on the musculoskeletal system and discuss the mechanisms whereby SCFAs regulate bone cells.