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Updated: Jul 17, 2025

An Adoptive Transfer Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Mice
Published on: June 6, 2025
[Influence of underlying disease and immunosuppression on the immunocompetence in inflammatory rheumatic diseases]
A-L Stefanski1,2, T Dörner3,4, C Kneitz5
1Medizinische Klinik mit Schwerpunkt Rheumatologie und Klinische Immunologie, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Deutschland. ana-luisa.stefanski@charite.de.
Abstract:
Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases have a higher risk of infections in comparison to the general population. For this patient group, in addition to cardiovascular diseases, infections play an important role with respect to morbidity and mortality. Even if it is difficult to make concrete statements with respect to individual diseases, it can be assumed that there is a lower risk of infections in inflammatory joint diseases in comparison to connective tissue diseases and vasculitides. The increased risk of infections is determined by multiple factors, whereby the underlying factors are classified into three main categories: patient-related factors (age, comorbidities, lifestyle), disease-related factors (immunological dysfunction as part of the disease pathophysiology) and drug-related factors (type and dosage of the immunosuppression and/or immunomodulation). An improved understanding of the complexity of these associations enables the optimization of treatment and disease control taking the individual risk factors into account, with the aim of a significant reduction in the risk of infections.
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