Inflammation and cytokines

Acute and chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are of major relevance from a therapeutic but also economical perspective. It is estimated that 10% of human population suffer from chronic-inflammatory conditions, of which 1% have RA. In the past 25 years major research efforts worldwide led to fascinating new insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of inflammatory reactions and to the subsequent development of new drugs. In this context the discovery of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) played a decisive role.