Finding a Place for Interleukin-1 Inhibitors in the Treatment of Rheumatologic Diseases

Title:Finding a Place for Interleukin-1 Inhibitors in the Treatment of Rheumatologic Diseases

Volume: 21 Issue: 17

Author(s): Donna Finch and Matthew Sleeman

Affiliation:

Keywords: Interleukin, interleukin-1, inflammasome, rheumatology, cryopyrin, gout, arthritis, CAPS.

Abstract: Interleukin-1 inhibitors were tested in large arthritis trials with less than impressive results, despite having convincing disease expression data and pre-clinical animal model supporting the potential pathogenic role of this cytokine in these settings. Despite disappointing beginnings, some IL-1 pathway blocking drugs are now beginning to find a place in the pharmacopoeia of rheumatologists. Drug developers utilised rapidly growing understanding of the molecular pathway and the genetic basis of key diseases to seek out conditions in which IL-1 pathway activation was much more likely to have a pivotal role in disease pathogenesis compared to the major arthritides. This review details the crucial advances in understanding of the IL-1 pathway activation which enabled this progress, particularly the advent of inflammasome biology. The drug development of IL-1 biologics in rheumatological diseases makes a fascinating case study illustrating major changes in drug development strategy encompassing closer synergies between translational biology, underlying molecular pathophysiology of disease, and novel clinical development pathways of biologic therapeutics.

Cite this article as:

Finch Donna and Sleeman Matthew, Finding a Place for Interleukin-1 Inhibitors in the Treatment of Rheumatologic Diseases, Current Pharmaceutical Design 2015; 21 (17) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612821666150310144603