Pentraxin 3: A promising therapeutic target for autoimmune diseases.

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a prototypic humoral soluble pattern recognition molecule that exerts a pivotal role in innate immune response and inflammation, as well as in tissue damage and remodeling. Recently, emerging evidence has revealed that PTX3 is involved in the occurrence and development of various autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), systemic sclerosis (SSc), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and psoriasis, etc. In this review, we have succinctly summarized the complex immunological functions of PTX3 and mostly focused on recent findings of the pleiotropic activities played by PTX3 in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, aiming at hopefully offering possible future therapeutic alternatives.