Research Progress on the Pathological Role of Mitophagy and Its Targeted Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Corresponding author: WANG Xuebin, wxbbyfy@163.com

DOI: 10.12201/bmr.202608.00045

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  Abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by chronic joint inflammation and progressive bone destruction, and insufficient therapeutic response remains a prevalent clinical challenge for current treatments. Mitophagy is a critical mechanism in eukaryotic cells that selectively eliminates damaged mitochondria and maintains mitochondrial quality and energy metabolic homeostasis. Its dysfunction is closely associated with immune dysregulation, inflammatory amplification and tissue damage. Accumulating studies have confirmed that mitophagy deficiency is widespread in the synovial cells and immune cells of RA patients, and it acts as one of the core pathological mechanisms driving the onset and progression of the disease. This paper systematically reviews the molecular mechanisms of mitophagy, elaborates its bidirectional regulatory role in the immunopathology and tissue damage of RA, and summarizes the research progress of mitophagy-targeted drugs and technologies, aiming to provide references for the exploration of RA pathogenesis and the development of novel therapeutic strategies.

  Key words: rheumatoid arthritis; mitophagy; immune cells; inflammatory signaling; targeted therapy

  Submit time: 25 August 2026

  Copyright: The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted biomedRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
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  1	2026-06-15	10.12201/bmr.202608.00045V1	Download

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