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Targeting Therapeutic Windows for Rheumatoid Arthritis Prevention

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Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a worldwide public health problem. Interventions to delay or prevent the onset of RA have attracted much attention in recent years, and researchers are now exploring various prevention strategies. At present, there is still no unified consensus for RA prevention, but targeting therapeutic windows and implementing interventions for at-risk individuals are extremely important. Due to the limited number of clinical trials on pharmacologic interventions, further studies are needed to explore and establish optimal intervention regimens and effective measures to prevent progression to RA. In this review, we introduce the RA disease process and risk factors, and present research on the use of both Western and Chinese medicine from clinical perspectives regarding RA prevention. Furthermore, we describe several complete and ongoing clinical studies on the use of Chinese herbal formulae for the prevention of RA.

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Abbreviations

csDMARD:

conventional synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs

HLA:

human leucocyte antigen

INFG:

interferon gamma

LAMF6:

signaling lymphocytic activation molecule family member 6

CXCL13:

C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 13

SWAP70:

switch-associated protein 70

IL12RB2:

interleukin-12 receptor subunit beta-2

BOLL-PLCL1:

boule homolog-phospholipase c-like 1

CCR2:

C-C motif chemokine receptor 2

HLA-DRB1*04:

human leukocyte antigen-DRB1*04

BMI:

body mass index

MTX:

methotrexate

DMARDs:

disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs

NF-κB:

nuclear factor-kappa B

IL:

interleukin

CRP:

C-reactive protein

ESR:

erythrocyte sedimentation rate

ACR/EULAR:

American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism

anti-CCP:

anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Rheumatology and Immunology Research, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Kai-xin Gao, Li-yan Mei, Mao-jie Wang, Xiu-min Chen, Qing-chun Huang &  Run-yue Huang

  2. The Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510405, China

    Yi-hong Yang, Qi Liang & You-bang Liang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Dampness Syndrome of Chinese Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Mao-jie Wang, Xiu-min Chen, Qing-chun Huang &  Run-yue Huang

  4. Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Joint Lab on Chinese Medicine and Immune Disease Research, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510405, China

    Mao-jie Wang, Xiu-min Chen, Qing-chun Huang &  Run-yue Huang

  5. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Mao-jie Wang, Xiu-min Chen &  Run-yue Huang

  6. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine for Prevention and Treatment of Refractory Chronic Diseases, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Qing-chun Huang

  7. The Key Unit of Methodology of Clinical Research, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Ze-huai Wen

Authors
  1. Kai-xin Gao
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  2. Yi-hong Yang
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  3. Qi Liang
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  6. Mao-jie Wang
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  8. Qing-chun Huang
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  9. Ze-huai Wen
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  10. Run-yue Huang
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Contributions

Gao KX and Yang YH contributed equally to this work. Huang RY and Gao KX contributed to the conception and design of the study. Gao KX and Yang YH wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and the other authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Run-yue Huang.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82274421), the Research Project of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine (Nos. 2023KT14118, YN2023RD01, YN2021RD01, MY2022KF08), the Specific Fund of State Key Laboratory of Dampness Syndrome of Chinese Medicine (Nos. SZ2021ZZ0202, SZ2021ZZ35), the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine for Prevention and Treatment of Refractory Chronic Diseases (2018): 2018B030322012 (No. YN2023MB15), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (Nos. 2023B1212060063, YN2023ZH22), and the Project of Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Guangdong Province of China (No. 20231112)

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Gao, Kx., Yang, Yh., Liang, Q. et al. Targeting Therapeutic Windows for Rheumatoid Arthritis Prevention. Chin. J. Integr. Med. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-024-3760-2

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