Alarmins in autoimmune diseases

Alarmins are endogenous, constitutively expressed, chemotacting and immune activating proteins or peptides released because of non-programmed cell death (i.e. infections, trauma, etc).They are considered endogenous damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), able to induce a sterile inflammation. In the last years, several studies highlighted a possible role of different alarmins in the patho-genesis of various autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases.We reviewed the relevant literature about this topic, for about 160 articles.Particularly, we focused on systemic autoimmune diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, ANCA-associated vasculitides, Behcet's disease) and cutaneous organ-specific autoimmune diseases (vitiligo, psoriasis, alopecia, pemphigo).Finally, we discussed about future perspectives and potential therapeutic implications of alarmins in auto -immune diseases. In fact, identification of receptors and downstream signal transducers of alarmins may lead to the identification of antagonistic inhibitors and agonists, with the capacity to modulate alarmins-related path-ways and potential therapeutic applicability.