Immune-mediated rheumatoid arthritis: from single-cell genomics to new therapies.

Single-cell genomics has identified pathogenic lymphocyte, myeloid, and fibroblast cell subsets in immune-mediated rheumatoid arthritis.

• Why it matters: Understanding the causal mechanisms of disease remains a challenge due to largely descriptive datasets, limiting the development of targeted therapies.
• What they did: The author discusses emerging data and proposes approaches such as spatial transcriptomics, ex vivo mechanistic studies, organoid models, and improved animal models based on human data to advance disease understanding.
• The result: These insights may enable the design of new therapeutic strategies and clinical trials, with potential applicability to other immune-mediated diseases.