A compartmentalized microfluidic platform to investigate immune cells cross-talk in rheumatoid arthritis.

The dysregulation of the immune system plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of manyfold diseases, among which we find rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation in synovial joints, leading to pain and disability. Immune cells such as pro-inflammatory macrophages and T helper 1 (Th1) cells drive the inflammatory cascade. Thus, including immune system inmodels is pivotal to recapitulate and better understand the complex interactions between these immune cell subsets and their secreted mediators.