Apoptosis a relevant therapeutic target in rheumatoid arthritis?

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Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder with a heterogeneous course. Early histological features include synovial lining hyperplasia, angiogenesis and mononuclear cell infiltrates [1]. Hyperplastic changes encompass both macrophage-like synovial cells and fibroblast-like synovial cells. The fibroblast-like synoviocytes exhibit pre-neoplastic characteristics, with invasive tendencies and expression of proto-oncogenes [2]. In the later stages of disease, synovial proliferation is reduced and often replaced by connective tissue [3]. One explanation for the synovial proliferation is an imbalance between cell proliferation and apoptosis or programmed cell death. For this reason, the induction of apoptosis has been proposed as a potential therapeutic approach (Table 1).

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