The important co-existence of spondylarthritis (SpA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) within the same individual suggests common etiopathogenic mechanisms. This is supported by intriguing similarities between both diseases at the subclinical and molecular level. The recent advances in IBD genetics have led to the identification of common pathways involved in both IBD and SpA, including bacterial recognition and ER stress. This offers the opportunity to develop potential new therapeutic strategies for both diseases. Transgenic animals which develop both joint and gut inflammation (like the TNF(ΔARE) mice and the HLA-B27 transgenic rats) are a very useful tool to test such novel therapeutics and to get further mechanistic insight into the pathogenetic link between SpA and IBD. This review will focus on the recent scientific progress in our understanding of the link between SpA and IBD. Based on this, potential novel therapeutic strategies are discussed.
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