OBJECTIVES Muckle-Wells syndrome (MWS) is an autoinflammatory disease characterized by excessive interleukin-1 (IL-1) release, resulting in recurrent fevers, sensorineural hearing loss, and amyloidosis. IL-1 inhibition with anakinra, an IL-1 receptor antagonist, improves clinical symptoms and inflammatory markers. Subclinical disease activity is commonly observed. Canakinumab, a fully human IgG...

Objectives Membrane bound receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is over-expressed in response to increasing concentrations of its ligand (eg S100A12) and triggers an inflammatory immune response. Its truncated form sRAGE acts as decoy receptor and competes for ligands thus down-modulating inflammation. Decreased sRAGE levels are associated with rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren syndro...

BACKGROUND Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a disease associated with a high mortality rate. The initial phase is characterized by induction of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and influx of circulating inflammatory cells, including macrophages which play a pivotal role in the innate and adaptive immune responses to injury. Growing evidence points to phenotypic heterogeneity a...