title: Pathological role of interleukin-6 in psoriatic arthritis.
abstract: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a clinical manifestation of psoriatic disease. Although the pathogenesis of PsA remains unknown, PsA can be managed by treatments similar to those used for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Because interleukin-(IL-) 6 has been suggested to have a pathogenic role in PsA, a humanized anti-IL-6 receptor antibody tocilizumab treatment for PsA was recently tried. However, the efficacy of tocilizumab for PsA was not favorable. This suggests that the pathogenic roles of IL-6 in PsA and RA are different. In RA, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) primarily contributes to the arthritis effector phase and IL-6 contributes to the arthritis priming phase. In PsA, the TNF-related effector phase is similar to that in RA, but the IL-6-related priming phase might not be critical. This paper discusses the role of IL-6 in PsA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Allergy and Rheumatic Diseases, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 565-0871, Japan ; Department of Immunopathology, WPI Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumanogoh
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka