CXCL10 As a Biomarker Of Interstitial Lung Disease in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is complicated by lung manifestations, such as interstitial lung disease which is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Rheumatoid arthritis-interstitial lung disease is a progressive fibrotic disease of the lung parenchyma that includes a broad spectrum of disorders such as nonspecific interstitial pneumonia, usual interstitial pneumonia , desquamative interstitial pneumonia, cryptogenic organizing pneumonia, diffuse alveolar damage, acute interstitial pneumonia, and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia . Rheumatoid arthritis-interstitial lung disease in which available data indicate that dysregulated inflammatory cascades can elaborate a host of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors that collectively promote epithelial and endothelial cell damage, angiogenesis, fibroblast differentiation/proliferation, and lung fibrosis . Given the clinical implications of putative signaling cascades involved in these processes, biomarkers that can be used to clarify disease pathogenesis and identify factors governing disease progression are clearly needed .