Inflammatory arthritis irAE may represent a unique autoimmune disease primarily driven by T cells but likely not autoantibodies
B cells. IA-irAE was further characterized by elevated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-12, and type I interferon, which correlated with the T cell activation phenotypes. Together, our findings define IA-irAE as a disease with certain immunological features distinctive from RA, representing a potentially T cell-driven, autoantibody-independent autoimmunity. These results offer insights into immune tolerance breakdown and therapeutic targeting in irAEs.
Authors
- Hannah E. Langenfeld
- Chantal E. McCabe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2786-5496)
- Panwen Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4614-8970)
- Brenna Sharp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8500-7284)
- S. Chen
- Svetomir N. Markovic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9238-4325)
- Uma Thanarajasingam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4197-4907)
- Yanfeng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8441-7721)
- Yan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0096-0813)
- H. C. Dong
- Andrew C. Hanson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4673-5486)
- Amber Woltzen
- Xingxing Zhu
- John M. Davis
- Cynthia S. Crowson
- Hu Zeng
Institutions
- Mayo Clinic (US)
- WinnMed (US)
- First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University (CN)
- Mayo Clinic in Arizona (US)
- Mayo Clinic Hospital (US)
- Mayo Clinic in Florida (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aea4262
- Primary Topic
- Rheumatoid Arthritis Research and Therapies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- National Institutes of Health