Interleukin-6 in Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 21; no. 15; p. 5238
• Main Authors: Pandolfi, Franco, Franza, Laura, Carusi, Valentina, Altamura, Simona, Andriollo, Gloria, Nucera, Eleonora
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 23.07.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Adaptive immunity; Cartilage; Cytokines; Disease; Immune system; Infections; Inflammation; Kinases; Lymphocytes; Microbiota; Neutrophils; Pathogenesis; Proteins; Review; Rheumatoid arthritis; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms21155238

The role of interleukin (IL)-6 in health and disease has been under a lot of scrutiny in recent years, particularly during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The inflammatory pathways in which IL-6 is involved are also partly responsible of the development and progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), opening interesting perspectives in terms of therapy. Anti-IL-6 drugs are being used with variable degrees of success in other diseases and are being tested in RA. Results have been encouraging, particularly when anti-IL-6 has been used with other drugs, such as metothrexate (MTX). In this review we discuss the main immunologic aspects that make anti-IL-6 a good candidate in RA, but despite the main therapeutic options available to target IL-6, no gold standard treatment has been established so far.