Hydrogels in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: drug delivery systems and artificial matrices for dynamic in vitro models

Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune and chronic inflammatory disorder that mostly affects the synovial joints and can promote both cartilage and bone tissue destruction. Several conservative treatments are available to relieve pain and control the inflammation; however, traditional drugs administration are not fully effective and present severe undesired side effects. Hydrogels are a very attractive platform as a drug delivery system to guarantee these handicaps are reduced, and the therapeutic effect from the drugs is maximized. Furthermore, hydrogels can mimic the physiological microenvironment and have the mechanical behavior needed for use as cartilage in vitro model. The testing of these advanced delivery systems is still bound to animal disease models that have shown low predictability. Alternatively, hydrogel-based human dynamic in vitro systems can be used to model diseases, bypassing some of the animal testing problems. RA dynamic disease models are still in an embryonary stage since advances regarding healthy and inflamed cartilage models are currently giving the first steps regarding complexity increase. Herein, recent studies using hydrogels in the treatment of RA, featuring different hydrogel formulations are discussed. Besides, their use as artificial extracellular matrices in dynamic in vitro articular cartilage is also reviewed.