Form, Function, and Dysfunction: Airway Diseases Are Associated with Increased Risk for Rheumatoid Arthritis

AbstractRheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk is strongly influenced by environmental exposures and the organ with the largest interface with our environment is the lung. To effectively exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide, the lung must support a delicately thin mucosal border (2  µm) spread over 140 m2 (1). While ideal for gas exchange, the immensity of the lung ’s surface area makes it challenging to mitigate threats from inhaled pathogens and toxins while simultaneously promoting immunologic tolerance to harmless epitopes. A failure to maintain homeostatic host‐environment interactions along this mucosal border is implicated in the pathogenesis of man y lung diseases and growing evidence suggests it is also implicated in the pathogenesis of RA.

Source: Arthritis and Rheumatology - December 24, 2019 Category: Rheumatology Authors: Maor Sauler Tags: EDITORIAL Source Type: research