Vaccine May Prevent Arthritis

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You have some vaccines triggering arthritis and another to prevent arthritis

by ArthritisSupport staff ArthritisSupport.com

http://www.arthritissupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm?ID=205

08-08-2000 A special type of vaccination called ³naked DNA² could hold the

key to future treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Scientists are hopeful that this exciting new technology may eventually

treat and prevent rheumatoid arthritis.

The vaccine introduces genes into the body that have been engineered to

mimic proinflammatory peptides, which consist of cytokines and chemokines.

When the patient¹s immune system sees these genes as foreign invaders, it

produces its own neutralizing antibodies capable of restraining the disease.

Essentially, the process involves " teaching the immune system how to correct

its own mistakes, " explains Dr. Karin of the Technion-Israel

Institute of Technology. It does so by fooling the natural immune system

into fighting itself by neutralizing the excessive inflammatory substances -

cytokines and chemokines - it is producing.

³One way these (autoimmune) diseases could be controlled is by immunizing

patients with neutralizing antibodies directed against one or more of the

proinflammatory peptides,² said Karin.

There are, however, two key problems associated with using the neutralizing

antibodies tested in the trials. First, they require frequent

administration. Additionally, the body¹s immune system eventually recognizes

the antibodies as foreign and generates an immune response that can

exacerbate the disease.

Karin believes that the new naked DNA vaccination technology can counter

these negative effects. " Our laboratory has clearly shown that the major

advantages of these self-generated antibodies lie not only in that they do

not provoke an immune response, but also, and most importantly, in the

ability they endow to the immune system to self-regulate their production in

accordance with disease progression.

³This provides the immune system of a patient with an autoimmune disease

with a powerful tool with which it can restrain its own harmful activities, "

says the Technion scientist.

Karin's laboratory has used the naked DNA technology to demonstrate that

chemokine-based DNA vaccines can be used to both treat and prevent

rheumatoid arthritis. The vaccine has so far only been tested on animals. In

the next stage, Karin will continue exploring the vaccine using various

vectors before testing it in humans. A paper on this technology appears in

the August 1, 2000 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.