Review
Toll-like receptors and NOD-like receptors in rheumatic diseases
-
* Corresponding author: Luke A O'Neill laoneill@tcd.ie
1 OPSONA Therapeutics Ltd, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St James' Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
2 School of Biochemistry & Immunology, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2009, 11:243 doi:10.1186/ar2729
Published: 14 October 2009Abstract
The past 10 years have seen the description of families of receptors that drive proinflammatory cytokine production in infection and tissue injury. Two major classes have been examined in the context of inflammatory joint disease - the Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and NOD-like receptors (NLRs). TLRs such as TLR2 and TLR4 are being implicated in the pathology of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, lyme arthritis and osteoarthritis. Nalp3 has been identified as a key NLR for IL-1β production and has been shown to have a particular role in gout. These findings present new therapeutic opportunities, possibly allowing for the replacement of biologics with small molecule inhibitors.