Dopaminergic Agents in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Clinical evidences suggest a causal relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the dopaminergic system, and several studies described an alteration of the disease in patients treated with dopaminergic agents. Despite these interesting results, potential direct effects of dopamine on RA have not been intensively considered until the last decade. Recent studies confirm a direct effect of dopamine on the systemic immune response as well as on bone remodeling and on joint inflammation, both in humans and in different animal models of arthritis. While more research is necessary to accurately determine the effect of dopamine in RA, these results are encouraging and support a possible use of dopaminergic drugs for the treatment of arthritis in the future. Moreover, they point out that dopaminergic agents use to treat comorbidities, might influence the immune response and the disease progression in RA patients. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the effects of dopaminergic drugs on RA and describes the potential of dopaminergic drugs as future therapeutic strategy in arthritis.

Revisiting Clozapine in a Setting of COVID-19

“…Immune T-cells, B-cells, monocytes, and N. K. cells have a part in the degenerative changes that go with rheumatoid arthritis. Animal studies indicate that antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia might have a positive effect to relieve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis because of their action at dopamine receptors [55][56][57][58][59]. The negative link between schizophrenia and rheumatoid arthritis is well established.…”

Profiling Blood Serum Extracellular Vesicles in Plaque Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Patients Reveals Potential Disease Biomarkers

“…Higher levels of dopamine have been found to be a risk factor for psoriasis with involvement in the T cell activation process [ 66 ]. Furthermore, a connection between the dopaminergic pathway and RA was also observed [ 67 ] in a recent in vitro study revealing the inducing effect of dopamine on the migration of synovial fibroblasts [ 68 ]. While uncovering the specific mechanisms behind these reported associations remained out of scope for this study, these in silico-revealed pathway-level associations provide further confidence in the involvement of circulating EVs in the mediation of intercellular communication in PsV and PsA.…”

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors: A Review of Their Anti-Inflammatory Therapeutic Potential and Mechanisms of Action

“…Dopamine receptors do vary in their expression and relative affinity for dopamine so it is quite feasible that increased dopamine can trigger different DRs (Melnikov et al, 2020). DR2 agonists have shown a positive impact on joint inflammation but results vary based on the study and agonists examined (Capellino, 2020). A potential receptorindependent mechanism by which intracellular dopamine can mediate inflammation has also been described.…”