Introduction
tumor, synovitis, joint damage, tender joints, Rheumatoid arthritis, RA, autoimmune disease
TUMOR, SYNOVITIS, INFLAMMATION, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS, AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic inflammatory, autoimmune disease characterized by synovitis, inflammation, progressive joint damage, and deformity with a prevalence ranging from 0.4% to 1.3% (Interleukin (IL)-6 is a multipotent cytokine that plays an important role in immune function, inflammatory function, hematopoiesis, and tumor formation (WBP216 is a novel human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1)-YTE (IgG1 triple mutation) monoclonal antibody for IL-6. The strong affinity of WBP216 prevents the interaction between IL-6 and its receptor, thereby reducing the proinflammatory activities. In addition WBP216 can directly inhibit the production of C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) resulting in an improvement in the swollen and tender joints in patients with RA (