Year in Review: Rheumatic Disease Research in 2019

A key sensor, known as cGAS, can lead to the activation of the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) system, then to interferon production.

In lupus, Dr. Pisetsky said, researchers have recently shown that interferon affects this system and prevents the body’s mechanism for cleaning out damaged cells, leading to inflammation.¹⁰

“The outcome,” he said, “is too much mitochondrial DNA in terms of the cytoplasm, [which interacts] with the cGAS-STING system and causes upregulation of various cytokines.”

Thomas R. Collins is a freelance writer living in South Florida.

References

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2. Reich K, Gooderham M, Thaci D, et al. Risankizumab compared with adalimumab in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (IMMvent): A randomised, double-blind, active-comparator-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet. 2019 Aug 17;394(10198):576–586.
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6. Wang Y, Hussain SM, Wluka AE, et al. Association between metformin use and disease progression in obese people with knee osteoarthritis: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative—a prospective cohort study. Arthritis Res Ther. 2019 May 24;21(1):127.
7. Zhang F, Wei K, Slowikowski K, et al. Defining inflammatory cell states in rheumatoid arthritis joint synovial tissues by integrating single-cell transcriptomics and mass cytometry. Nat Immunol. 2019 Jul;20(7):928–942.
8. Arazi A, Rao DA, Berthier CC, et al. The immune cell landscape in kidneys of patients with lupus nephritis. Nat Immunol. 2019 Jul;20(7):902–914.
9. Carmona-Rivera C, Khaznadar SS, Shwin KW, et al. Deficiency of adenosine deaminase 2 triggers adenosine-mediated NETosis and TNF production in patients with DADA2. Blood. 2019 Jul 25;134(4):395–406.
10. Gkirtzimanaki K, Kabrani E, Nikoleri D, et al. IFNα impairs autophagic degradation of mtDNA promoting autoreactivity of SLE monocytes in a STING-dependent fashion. Cell Rep. 2018 Oct 23;25(4):921–933.e5.