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Review
. 2020 Jul 23;21(15):5238.
doi: 10.3390/ijms21155238.

Interleukin-6 in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Franco Pandolfi  1 , Laura Franza  2 , Valentina Carusi  1 , Simona Altamura  1 , Gloria Andriollo  1 , Eleonora Nucera  1
Affiliations
Review

Interleukin-6 in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Franco Pandolfi et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: IL-6; inflammation; rheumatoid arthritis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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