In this study, Park et al sought to investigate the effects of the JAK2 inhibitor, AG490 in RA. Using murine CIA models, both preventative and therapeutic models were investigated. In the preventative model, CIA mice treated with AG490 showed a significantly lower incidence rate of arthritis and arthritic scores when compared to mice injected with vehicle. In the therapeutic model, as in the preventative, AG490 treated mice exhibited less severe arthritis. Through further experiments, it was dem...
IL-18, a member of the IL-1 family, has been shown to play an important role in immune response and is involved in the pathogenesis of RA. The study objective was to examine the role of the JAK pathway in modulating TNFa-induced-IL18 bioactivity by reducing caspase-1 function. Caspase-1 is the protease that cleaves pro-IL-18 to IL-18, thereby activating it. In testing it was noted that by blocking the JAK pathway significantly decreased caspase-1 transcription, expression and activity showing th...

April 2014

Janus kinases (JAKs) mediate the regulation of a variety of cytokine signals with alterations in JAK1, JAK2, JAK3 and Tyk2 signalling contributing to many disease states including autoimmune diseases and haematological malignancies. Recently tofacitinib and ruxolitinib have been approved for treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and myelofibrosis respectively. Several JAK2 inhibitors, such as momelotinib and pacritinib, currently in development for myelofibrosis and the JAK1/2 inhibitor baricitinib...
Tofacitinib is a JAK inhibitor currently approved for the treatment of RA in some parts of the world. In this paper, Migita et al tested the effects of tofacitinib on circulating serum amyloid A (SAA). SAA is a major acute-phase reactant in RA and studies have shown it may be a better marker for the assessment of inflammatory joint disease compared with C-reactive protein. SAA is induced by the binding of IL-6 and the activation of the JAK/STAT pathway, which is inhibited by tofacitinib. Results...

March 2014

As it is nonvascularized and noninnervated, articular cartilage has a limited capacity to repair which presents a major clinical problem. In order to circumvent this inability to repair, stem cells can be placed into the joint or stimulated within the bone marrow. However, as the cartilage requiring repair is often in diseased joints, the factors involved in the disease state are potentially non-beneficial to the chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells. In this study van Beuningen et al. invest...

February 2014

Despite biologic therapies greatly improving the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, many patients do not respond to current treatments or do not maintain response to these treatments. This review covers the evidence for the newly discovered role of Th17 cells, IL-12 and IL-17 family of cytokines in the pathogenesis of RA as well as the development of new therapies targeting these cytokines. With current biologics targeting cytokines such as TNF, IL-1ß and IL-6, the discovery of the Th17 subset o...

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January 2014

Spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) has already been described as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Previously the SYK inhibitor fostamatinib was in clinical development for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, but has since been suspended. However, investigation into SYK inhibition continues with RO2091, a novel ATP-competitive inhibitor of SYK with reasonable selectivity, potency and oral bioavailability which has been shown to suppress various innate and adap...

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A large number of loci implicated in disease susceptibility have been identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In this review article, Diogo et al. discuss recent advances in GWAS in the context of rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis and clinical applications. Relevant cells types and pathways in RA highlighted by GWAS to date include regulatory T-cells and CD4+ memory T cells as well as the JAK/STAT and NF-kB signalling pathways. The development of drugs targeting these pathways...

November 2013

Terapéutica dirigida a la vía de la JAK/STAT

Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol. 2013 Oct 24. doi: 10.1111/bcpt.12164

The inhibition of the JAK/STAT pathway has proven to be a powerful therapeutic tool in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The authors review the role of the JAK/STAT pathway in human disease, including the role of mutations in defective function of this pathway. They discuss the rationale behind JAK inhibition and review the two JAK inhibitors currently approved by the FDA for clinical use; tofacitinib, for the treatment of RA, and ruxolitinib, for the treatment of polycythaemia vera and myel...

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October 2013

The JAK/STAT signalling pathway has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this review, Coskun et al. provide an excellent background overview of the JAK/STAT cascade. They also highlight recent study findings investigating the mechanisms of the JAK/STAT pathway and the anti-inflammatory effects of novel JAK inhibitors in development and in clinical trials, particularly in IBD. In one study...

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