Scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have created a new protein molecule derived from the growth factor progranulin, which may provide the basis for new therapies in inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
“The development of this protein extends our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that drive the growth factors and cytokines control of cartilage development and arthritis,” said Chuan-ju Liu, the lead researcher.
“Whether the protein accounts for all of the anti-inflammatory effects we observed in the study needs to replicated, but we are very encouraged by these initial results,” he said.
Rheumatoid arthritis
The molecule created and used in this study, called ATSTTRIN (antagonist of TNF/TNFR signaling via targeting to TNF receptors), is a peptide constructed from segments of proteins that originate within a cell, which has a high affinity and specificity for binding to tumor necrosis factor receptors (TNFR).
The researchers suggest that this progranulin-derived protein could result in alternative treatments to those suffering from chronic autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn”s diseases, ulcerative colitis, ankylosing spondylitis, plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
The study is published in the March 10, 2011 issue of Science.
- Similar posts
- Iritis & Macular edema (15.3%)
- What is Ankylosing spondylitis? (15.1%)
- Ketamine relieves depression (11.3%)
- Breast cancer gene breakthrough (11.3%)
- Cancer drug to treat dementia (11.3%)
Researchers at the University of Nottingham has shown that a simple illusion can significantly reduce – and in some cases even temporarily eradicate – arthritic pain in the hand.
By tricking the brain into believing that the painful part of the hand is being stretched or shrunk, the researchers were able to halve the pain felt by 85 percent of sufferers they tested.
The research could point to new technologies of the future, which could assist patients in improving mobility in their hand by reducing the amount of pain they experience while undergoing physiotherapy.
The Nottingham team stumbled on its finding completely by chance during the University’s Community Open Day in April last year.
As part of the event they invited members of the public to experience some of the body distortion illusions they use as part of their every day research using Nottingham’s unique MIRAGE technology – which takes a real-time video capture image of a hand and uses computer manipulations combined with physically pulling or pushing on the hand to fool the brain into believing the hand is stretching or shrinking.
“The majority of people who come to these fun events are kids – the illusions really capture their imagination and they think it’s a cool trick and can become a bit obsessed with working out how we do it,” said Roger Newport who is leading the research in the School of Psychology.
“During the course of the day the grandmother of one of the children wanted to have a go, but warned us to be gentle because of the arthritis in her fingers. We were giving her a practical demonstration of illusory finger stretching when she announced: “My finger doesn’t hurt any more!” and asked whether she could take the machine home with her! We were just stunned – I don’t know who was more surprised, her or us!” said co-author Catherine Preston.
The study attracted 20 volunteers with an average age of 70, all clinically-diagnosed with arthritic pain in the hands and/or fingers and none medically managing their pain on the day by anything stronger than paracetamol.
Before starting the test they were asked to rate their pain on a 21-point scale, with 0 indicating no pain and 20 representing the most unbearable pain imaginable.
The team then compared the MIRAGE body illusion to just physically pushing and pulling on the painful parts of the volunteers’ hands to test the effect on their pain.
Other control tests were conducted by stretching or shrinking a non-painful part of the hand and visually enlarging or reducing the whole hand.
The results showed a marked reduction in pain -on average halving the discomfort for 85 percent of volunteers. Some reported greater reduction in pain for stretching, some for shrinking and some for both. The pain reduction only worked when painful parts of the hand were manipulated.
The study is reported in a forthcoming edition of the journal Rheumatology.
An injectable gel could ease the crippling joint pains that a large number of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis patients suffer from.
“We think this platform could be useful for multiple medical applications, including the localised treatment of cancer…and cardiovascular disease,” said Jeffrey Karp. His research team developed the potentially new way to treat these two conditions at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Arthritis is a good example of a disease that attacks specific parts of the body. Conventional treatments for it, however, largely involve drugs taken orally, reports the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A.
Not only do these take weeks to exert their effects, they can have additional side effects. That is because the drug is dispersed throughout the body, not just at the affected joint, according to a Brigham statement.
Further, high concentrations of the drug are necessary to deliver enough to the affected joint, which runs the risk of toxicity.
“There are many instances where we would like to deliver drugs to a specific location, but it’s very challenging to do so without encountering major barriers,” says Karp.
For example, you could inject a drug into the target area, but it won’t last long – only minutes to hours – because it is removed by the body’s highly efficient lymphatic system.
What about implantable drug-delivery devices? Most of these are composed of stiff materials that in a dynamic environment like a joint can rub and cause inflammation on their own.
Further, most of these devices release medicine continuously, even when it’s not needed. Arthritis, for example, occurs in cycles characterised by flare-ups, then remission.
“The Holy Grail of drug delivery is an autonomous system that (meters) the amount of drug released in response to a biological stimulus, ensuring that the drug is released only when needed at a therapeutically relevant concentration,” Karp wrote.