Fig. 11

The systematic pathway illustration of rheumatoid arthritis: chronic inflammation disrupts bone remodeling, resulting in gradual bone loss. The aberrant activation of the immune system raises the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which can increase synovial angiogenesis and leukocyte infiltration. The synovium generates a hyperplastic pannus with infiltrating macrophage- and fibroblast-like synoviocytes and invades joints by secreting proteinases and stimulating osteoclast differentiation (modified, KEGG Copyright Permission from Kanehisa Laboratories; no.: 230744)