Senior investigator Anca I. Catrina, MD, PhD, is an associate professor at the Karolinska Intitutet. She wrote by e-mail to The Rheumatologist to further explain the relationship between the lung and RA.
“The lung is one among several mucosal sites in our body, where the environment—such as smoking—is challenging the host and its genes, and interferes with the local microbiome,” she says. “Therefore, it is easy to find an explanation for why initiation of RA associate immunity [may] take place in the lungs.”
She also noted that other mucosal sites, such as the gingiva and intestinal mucosa, might also contribute to disease pathogenesis, thereby substituting for the lungs.
Lara C. Pullen, PhD, is a medical writer based in the Chicago area.
Reference
- Reynisdottir G, Olsen H, Joshua V, et al. Signs of immune activation and local inflammation are present in the bronchial tissue of patients with untreated early rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015 Nov 3. pii: annrheumdis-2015-208216. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-208216. [Epub ahead of print]
Revised on 1/12/2016 to correct references to “citrullinated proteins.”
