What's in Store for Rheumatology in 2018?
Checkpoint inhibitors will become even more important
“The new and emerging field of rheumatic immune-related adverse events from cancer immunotherapy will only increase in scope and complexity,” said Leonard H. Calabrese, rheumatologist at Cleveland Clinic. He emphasized that checkpoint inhibitors have become increasingly used in the field of modern medicine, more specifically for the treatment of cancer. “Immunologic checkpoints are brakes on an activated immune system; checkpoint inhibitors remove or diminish these brakes and reinvigorate an exhausted immune response,” he said. This, in turn, can trigger several autoimmune and autoinflammatory conditions, including myositis, arthritis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease.
