Tolerizing to PAD4: a new strategy against Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is most likely triggered by antibodies to citrullinated proteins (ACPA), which recognize citrulline residues on many proteins. Conversion of arginine into citrulline is performed by peptidyl arginine deiminase (PAD). Here, we demonstrate that human PAD4 is an attractive therapeutic target to inhibit ACPA production. This proof of concept paves the way for PAD4 tolerization as a treatment for RA (https://acrjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.43295).