Re: Re: RESEARCH - Is the immune system in RA overactive or just worn out?

[Guest guest]

Sierra, as far as I know, this theory hasn't been disproven yet.

Research on B cell and T cell dysfunction in RA is exciting because it could

lead to a cure. Rituxan (rituximab), Orencia (abatacept), and stem cell

transplantation are RA treatments that are yielding much important

information along these lines.

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

[ ] Re: RESEARCH - Is the immune system in RA overactive

or just worn out?

> This is five years old, right? I wonder how this question is viewed

> now? Troubling to think of my immune system as " worn out " because

> there's less that can be done to treat, if that's the case.

>

> Sierra

>

>

>

>>

>> Arthritis Foundation

>> Arthritis Today

>> AT Research Spotlight

>> 2001

>>

>>

>> RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

>>

>> Is Your Immune System Overactive or Just Worn Out?

>>

>> New research suggests that the long-held belief that rheumatoid

> arthritis

>> (RA) is the result of an overactive immune system may address only

> part of

>> the problem. The immune systems of people with RA may not simply be

> too

>> active - they may also be prematurely aged. If the findings of the

> study,

>> conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., are

>> corroborated by further research, this might one day change the way

> doctors

>> treat the disease.

>>

>> The Mayo Clinic researchers compared the immune systems of 51 RA

> patients to

>> the immune systems of 47 people of similar age who did not have the

> disease.

>> They found that young people with RA produced fewer T-cells (a type

> of white

>> blood cell involved in immunity) than they should, and that the T-

> cells they

>> produced resembled those of much older people.

>>

>> People ages 20 to 30 with RA had T-cells that looked as though they

> belonged

>> to 50- or 60-year-olds. The ends of their chromosomes, called

> telomeres,

>> which normally get a little worn with each cell division, " were

> chopped

>> off, " says Cornelia Weyand, MD, a Mayo Clinic rheumatologist and

> the study's

>> lead author.

>>

>> " We need to understand what this means for the patients, " Dr.

> Weyand says.

>> " Is the disease a consequence of profound change in the immune

> system? "

>>

>> Doctors may eventually find that immune suppression, the standard

> approach

>> to treating RA, is not the answer, says Dr. Weyand. For now,

> though, she

>> does not recommend that people with RA stop their immunosuppressive

> therapy.

>> " Immunosuppressive therapy is the only treatment we currently have

> for

>> patients and it is highly beneficial to them, " says Dr.

> Weyand. " Studies are

>> needed to determine the implications of our findings for patient

> care. "

>>

>> -PARK MORGAN

>>

>> Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA, Vol.

> 97, No. 16

>>

>>

> http://www.arthritis.org/resources/arthritistoday/2001_archives/2001_0

> 1_02_ar_doublejointed.asp

>>

>>

>>

>>