An interdisciplinary perspective on peripheral drivers of pain in rheumatoid arthritis

TY - JOUR

T1 - An interdisciplinary perspective on peripheral drivers of pain in rheumatoid arthritis

AU - Rutter-Locher, Zoe

AU - Kirkham, Bruce W.

AU - Bannister, Kirsty

AU - Bennett, David L.

AU - Buckley, Christopher D.

AU - Taams, Leonie S.

AU - Denk, Franziska

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Springer Nature Limited 2024.

PY - 2024/11

Y1 - 2024/11

N2 - Pain is one of the most debilitating symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and yet remains poorly understood, especially when pain occurs in the absence of synovitis. Without active inflammation, experts most often attribute joint pain to central nervous system dysfunction. However, advances in the past 5 years in both immunology and neuroscience research suggest that chronic pain in RA is also driven by a variety of abnormal interactions between peripheral neurons and mediators produced by resident cells in the local joint environment. In this Review, we discuss these novel insights from an interdisciplinary neuro-immune perspective. We outline a potential working model for the peripheral drivers of pain in RA, which includes autoantibodies, resident immune and mesenchymal cells and their interactions with different subtypes of peripheral sensory neurons. We also offer suggestions for how future collaborative research could be designed to accelerate analgesic drug development.

AB - Pain is one of the most debilitating symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and yet remains poorly understood, especially when pain occurs in the absence of synovitis. Without active inflammation, experts most often attribute joint pain to central nervous system dysfunction. However, advances in the past 5 years in both immunology and neuroscience research suggest that chronic pain in RA is also driven by a variety of abnormal interactions between peripheral neurons and mediators produced by resident cells in the local joint environment. In this Review, we discuss these novel insights from an interdisciplinary neuro-immune perspective. We outline a potential working model for the peripheral drivers of pain in RA, which includes autoantibodies, resident immune and mesenchymal cells and their interactions with different subtypes of peripheral sensory neurons. We also offer suggestions for how future collaborative research could be designed to accelerate analgesic drug development.

KW - pain, rheumatoid arthritis, neuro-immune

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85203299043&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41584-024-01155-z

DO - 10.1038/s41584-024-01155-z

M3 - Review article

SN - 1759-4790

VL - 20

SP - 671

EP - 682

JO - Nature Reviews Rheumatology

JF - Nature Reviews Rheumatology

IS - 11

ER -