title: Tissue repair in rheumatoid arthritis: challenges and opportunities in the face of a systemic inflammatory disease.
abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disease that can elicit a variable disease course, can influence a variable number of joints, and can exhibit a variable response to treatment. All of these factors contribute to the degree and extent of damage to joint components, as well as the potential for repair of other injured joint tissues/components. Furthermore, some of the RA treatments/drugs themselves can influence repair and injury responses, as well as the outcome of surgical interventions for advanced disease. However, as treatments and interventions become more sophisticated and successful in patient populations, the opportunity to initiate the repair/replacement of the damaged joint tissues also becomes more of a reality. This review will address the current clinical findings in the literature, and then discuss the issues and opportunities to initiate repair of damaged or injured joint tissues in order to restore joint function. These include growth factors, gene therapy, and bioengineered tissues, alone or in combination to augment endogenous repair or replace tissue damaged beyond such repair capabilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, McCaig Centre for Joint Injury and Arthritis Research, University of Calagary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alta., Canada T2N 4N1. hartd@ucalgary.edu
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: Alison S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Kydd
authors.forename: Cyril B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: Kevin A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hildebrand
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007596:Joints / Q000293:injuries* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D020127:Recovery of Function; D014945:Wound Healing