Reframing Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases through Signature Cytokine Hubs

Schett, Georg M.D.
McInnes, Iain B. M.D., Ph.D.
Neurath, Markus F. M.D.

From the Departments of Medicine 3 (G.S.) and Medicine 1 (M.F.N.) and Deutsches Zentrum Immuntherapie (G.S., M.F.N.), Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and the College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom (I.B.M.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Schett at the Department of Medicine 3 and Deutsches Zentrum Immuntherapie, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany, or at [email protected].

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.

Dan L. Longo, M.D., Editor

New England Journal of Medicine 385(7):p 628-639, August 12, 2021. | DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1909094

Signature Cytokines and Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases

The ability to block specific cytokine pathways has revealed pathophysiological differences among autoimmune diseases (e.g., the efficacy of TNF inhibitors in arthritides and inflammatory bowel disorders and their inefficacy in giant-cell arteritis and multiple sclerosis), providing a framework for reclassification.