Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk is strongly influenced by environmental exposures and the organ with the largest interface with our environment is the lung. To effectively exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide, the lung must support a delicately thin mucosal border (2 µm) spread over 140 m2 (1). While ideal for gas exchange, the immensity of the lung's surface area makes it challenging to mitigate threats from inhaled pathogens and toxins while simultaneously promoting immunologic tolerance to harmless epitopes. A failure to maintain homeostatic host-environment interactions along this mucosal border is implicated in the pathogenesis of many lung diseases and growing evidence suggests it is also implicated in the pathogenesis of RA.

中文翻译：

---

形式、功能和功能障碍：气道疾病与类风湿性关节炎风险增加有关。

类风湿性关节炎 (RA) 风险受环境暴露的强烈影响，与我们环境接触最多的器官是肺。为了有效地将氧气交换为二氧化碳，肺必须支撑一个纤薄的粘膜边界 (2 µm)，分布在 140 平方米 (1) 上。虽然是气体交换的理想选择，但肺表面积的巨大使得在减轻吸入病原体和毒素的威胁同时促进对无害表位的免疫耐受性方面具有挑战性。未能维持沿该粘膜边界的稳态宿主-环境相互作用与许多肺部疾病的发病机制有关，并且越来越多的证据表明它也与 RA 的发病机制有关。