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Highly AccessEditorial

Paradoxical effects of tumour necrosis factor-α in adjuvant-induced arthritis

Richard O Williams email

Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division, Imperial College London, Aspenlea Road, London W6 8LH, UK

author email corresponding author email

Arthritis Research & Therapy 2008, 10:113doi:10.1186/ar2430

Published: 6 June 2008


See related research by Moudgil et al., http://arthritis-research.com/content/10/2/R38

Abstract

Anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α therapy is highly effective in rheumatoid arthritis and it is surprising, therefore, that a recent study showed that intraperitoneal administration of recombinant TNFα reduced the severity of adjuvant-induced arthritis and decreased IFNγ expression in cultured draining lymph node cells. Furthermore, in untreated arthritic rats, maximal TNFα expression in draining lymph node cells coincided with spontaneous disease remission, suggesting a role for endogenous TNFα in recovery from arthritis. If confirmed in further studies, these findings suggest that, in addition to its well-established pro-inflammatory properties, TNFα may also play a disease-limiting role in this model of rheumatoid arthritis by suppressing effector T cell responses.


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