Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic
autoimmune disease, with the features of recurrent chronic
inflammation of synovial tissue, destruction of cartilage, and bone erosion, which further affects joints tissue, organs, and systems, and eventually leads to irreversible joint
deformities and body dysfunction. Therapeutic drugs for
rheumatoid arthritis mainly reduce
inflammation through regulating inflammatory factors.
Transdermal administration is gradually being applied to the treatment of
rheumatoid arthritis, which can allow the
drug to overcome the skin stratum corneum barrier, reduce gastrointestinal side effects, and avoid the first-pass effect, thus improving bioavailability and relieving
inflammation. This paper reviewed the latest research progress of transdermal
drug delivery in the treatment of
rheumatoid arthritis, and discussed in detail the
dosage forms such as gel (microemulsion gel, nanoemulsion gel, nanomicelle gel, sanaplastic nano-vesiclegel, ethosomal gel, transfersomal gel, nanoparticles gel), patch,
drug microneedles, nanostructured
lipid carrier, transfersomes, lyotropic liquid crystal, and
drug loaded electrospinning nanofibers, which provide inspiration for the rich
dosage forms of transdermal drug delivery systems for
rheumatoid arthritis.