REVIEW - Etiological and biological aspects of cigarette smoking in RA

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Inflamm Allergy Drug Targets. 2009 Dec;8(5):364-8.

Etiological and biological aspects of cigarette smoking in rheumatoid arthritis.

Onozaki K.

Department of Molecular Health Sciences, Graduate School of

Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Mizuho, Nagoya

467-8603, Japan.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disease

characterized by the chronic inflammation of the synovium, which

develops to joint destruction. Quite interestingly RA has not been

present in the old world until 17 century. Tobacco has come from the

new world, and epidemiological studies revealed cigarette smoking as a

major risk factor for the disease. However, the mechanism how

cigarette smoking contributes to RA has been largely unknown. It has

been demonstrated that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, constituents

of cigarette smoke, and cigarette smoke extracts are able to induce

proinflammatory cytokines from RA patient-derived fibroblast-like

synoviocytes. Recent studies also suggest an important role of Th17 in

RA and contribution of aryl hydrocarbon receptor to the induction and

development of Th17 and RA. These new findings lead to uncovering the

basis for the etiological role of cigarette smoking in the disease.

PMID: 20025584

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20025584

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