[HTML][HTML] Vagus nerve stimulation: a new bioelectronics approach to treat rheumatoid arthritis?

FA Koopman, PR Schuurman… - Best practice & research …, 2014 - Elsevier
There has been a marked improvement in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but
most patients do not achieve disease remission. Therefore, there is still a need for new
treatments. By screening an adenoviral short hairpin RNA library, we discovered that
knockdown of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor type 7 (α7nAChR) in RA fibroblast-like
synoviocytes results in an increased production of mediators of inflammation and
degradation. The α7nAChR is intimately involved in the cholinergic anti-inflammatory …