Do antivirals have any utility in the treatment of arthritis?

Viruses have been linked to arthritides by several pathways. Apart from the ability of different viral pathogens to cause arthritic symptoms directly, only some circumstantial evidence for the involvement of (retro)viruses in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis has been presented in recent years. Therefore, the question of whether antiviral agents can be used to treat arthritis has become of interest. However, the mechanisms by which exogenous retroviral infection as well as activation of endogenous retroviral sequences may potentially lead to the induction of rheumatoid arthritis is just beginning to emerge. Moreover, the hypothesis that persistent viral infection may account for some hitherto unclassified, chronic arthritides, still needs to be confirmed. Therefore, the use of antiviral agents in the treatment of arthritides has been limited to viral complications of anti-arthritic therapy and to some experimental approaches. In this review, we will focus on current concepts of viral involvement in arthritis and point to future directions in the use of antiviral agents for arthritis.