Factors modulating the inflammatory response in acute gouty arthritis

Gout is a common debilitating form of arthritis and despite our extensive knowledge on the pathogenesis its prevalence is still rising quickly. In the current review, we provide a concise overview of recent discoveries in factors tuning the inflammatory response to soluble uric acid and monosodium urate crystals.

It appears that soluble uric acid has a much larger role to play than just being a risk factor for gout. It may have widespread consequences for systemic inflammation and the development of metabolic syndrome. Additionally, a specific gout-related gut microbiome might not only provide us with a new diagnostic tool, but also highlights possible new therapeutic targets. Furthermore, several recent publications further elucidated the roles of mitochondrial dysfunction, production of reactive oxygen species, autophagy, and AMP-dependent protein kinase in monosodium urate-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Finally, neutrophils have been shown to be involved in both the promotion and resolution of gouty inflammation. A new alpha-1-antitrypsin fusion protein may limit the proinflammatory effects of neutrophil-derived serine proteases.

Together, these studies provide us with many new insights in the pathogenesis of gout, important new treatment targets, and a rationale to further study the role of soluble uric acid in inflammatory diseases.