Single cytokine inhibition, e.g. TNFα or IL-6, has fundamentally improved the therapeutic armamentarium for the treatment of RA; yet clinically meaningful responses are achieved in only about half of RA patients treated. In addition, it is now well established that the pathogenesis of RA involves multiple mechanisms of cell activation and cell recruitment. These two factors have led to the emergence of the concept of dual specificity, sparking interest in the biologic arena, with a focus o...

Keywords:

August 2013

This review focuses on targeting spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) and Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors as potential immunomodulatory agents for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders with SYK inhibition showing encouraging efficacy in patients with RA. The paper describes the role of SYK and BTK in several therapy areas including autoimmune diseases, allergic inflammatory disorders and haematological cancers as well as their role in innate immunity and regulators of adaptive...