[Autoinflammatory syndromes]

Abstract

Autoinflammatory syndromes (AIS) are a heterogeneous group of congenital diseases characterized by the presence of recurrent episodes of fever and local or generalized inflammation, in the absence of infectious agents, detectable auto-antibodies or antigen-specific autoreactive T-cells. These diseases have been much better understood during the past 15 years, mainly due to the marked advances of the Human Genoma Project and its implications in the identification and characterization of genetic mutations. In this paper we make a revision of the classification of AIS and focus our attention specially on the cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS), in particular the CINCA syndrome that shares many clinical characteristics with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.