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Rheumatoid arthritis and cancer are linked by the same mechanism
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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American scientists have found that the Notch cell signaling pathway, associated with the development of cancer, also affects the development of rheumatoid arthritis, EurekAlert reports! The results of the work of Dr. Xiaoyu Hu and her colleagues from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York were published in the online version of the journal Nature Immunology.
The Notch cell signaling pathway involves transmembrane proteins that regulate the choice of differentiation pathways for different cells in multicellular organisms. Other scientists have shown that Notch is associated with cancer, and that a mutation in one of the genes associated with this signaling pathway leads to rheumatoid arthritis.
Hu and her colleagues conducted a series of experiments on mice whose macrophages lacked this cell-signaling pathway, so they could not produce a certain type of macrophage. These rodents were less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis.
In another experiment, scientists found that due to disruptions in the cellular signaling pathway, macrophages began to "attack" the joints. In response to this, the cells began to produce inflammation mediators. Thus, the inflammatory process is constantly maintained.
The scientists also determined how Notch influences the molecular cascade leading to the emergence of inflammatory macrophages. "We have elucidated the pathway of rheumatoid arthritis and proved that Notch inhibitors, which were developed to treat cancer and Alzheimer's disease, can also be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis," said Dr. Hu. Some of these inhibitors are undergoing phase III clinical trials.
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