Arthritis & Rheumatology News and Research

Latest Arthritis & Rheumatology News and Research

Estradiol and its metabolites and their association with knee osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis, which usually develops between the ages of 40 and 50, is more prevalent in women. It is thought that sex hormones may play a role in developing the disease, since they can be involved in inflammation of the tissues affected by it.

26 Jul 2006

Disease-specific gene expression profiles in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

They sleep together, eat together, and most people find it impossible to tell them apart. Identical twins who grow up together share just about everything, including their genes.

26 Jul 2006

Remicade receives European approval for treatment of psoriatic arthritis

Schering-Plough Corporation today announced that the European Commission has approved the use of Remicade (infliximab) as monotherapy in the treatment of active and progressive psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in patients who show intolerance to methotrexate or for whom methotrexate is contraindicated.

26 Jul 2006

NICE backs use of Enbrel and Raptiva to treat severe psoriasis

NICE has today issued guidance for the use of the targeted biological therapies, Enbrel (etanercept) and Raptiva (efalizumab), to treat adult patients with severe plaque psoriasis.

26 Jul 2006

Loss of Matrilin-3 gene leads to osteoarthritis

A gene that is associated with osteoarthritis and skeletal deformities in people has been shown to be responsible for preventing the onset of osteoarthritis in adult mice, according to a recent study led by Rhode Island Hospital.

24 Jul 2006

Eicosanoids and inflammatory response

Revolutionary new results concerning substances that play major roles in the inflammatory response have been published in the American scientific journal PNAS in two articles from Karolinska Institutet.

18 Jul 2006

Importance of T cells in the prevention of autoimmune diseases

Centenary scientist Associate Professor Barbara Fazekas de St. Groth, a leader in inflammatory bowel disease research, has demonstrated for the first time the important role of T cells in the prevention of autoimmune diseases in humans.

9 Jul 2006

Obese women at greater risk of disease and death

Experts say that obesity is a disease that now affects nearly one-third of the adult American population, approximately 60 million people, and the latest study on the condition suggests that health risks to women who are obese may have been underestimated.

6 Jul 2006

Bioengineered tissue implants regenerate damaged knee cartilage

Knee cartilage injuries can be effectively repaired by tissue engineering and osteoarthritis does not stop the regeneration process concludes research led by scientists at the University of Bristol.

5 Jul 2006

Celiac success: New enzyme efficiently degrades gluten

A new enzyme originally developed for commercial food processing turns out to also quickly and nearly-completely break down whole gluten molecules as well as the T cell stimulatory peptides that cause celiac disease, a digestive disease with no current effective treatment other than avoiding wheat, barley or rye products.

5 Jul 2006

New Australian 'assassin' drug has huge potential

Australian researchers have come up with a new drug which they believe has the potential to fight a wide range of illnesses and diseases including cancer, age-related blindness, heart disease and arthritis.

5 Jul 2006

Fat and clever and rich - equals depression

Major depression is a leading cause of disability globally and according to American researchers people who are obese are more at risk of suffering from a psychiatric disorder.

4 Jul 2006

Maturation of tissue engineered cartilage implanted in injured and osteoarthritic human knees

Knee cartilage injuries can be effectively repaired by tissue engineering and osteoarthritis does not stop the regeneration process concludes research led by scientists at the University of Bristol.

4 Jul 2006

New class of experimental drug that targets master regulator gene called c-Jun

University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have announced they are developing a new class of experimental drug that has the potential to treat a diverse range of health problems, from inflammation and cancer through to eye and heart disease.

3 Jul 2006

Drug trial horror gave victim '4 months of hell'

One of the six volunteers who were left critically ill when a drug trial went horribly wrong has spoken out about his ordeal.

28 Jun 2006

New immunology research collaboration established

Singapore's Agency forScience, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and The Australian National University establish immunology research collaboration.

27 Jun 2006

Rituximab shown to significantly inhibit structural damage of joints caused by rheumatoid arthritis

New data presented at the EULAR meeting (European League Against Rheumatism) show for the first time that MabThera (rituximab), a unique B cell targeted therapy, is able to significantly inhibit structural damage of joints caused by rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

27 Jun 2006

3 new genes implicated in rheumatoid arthritis

Researchers continue to search for genetic clues into rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic inflammatory joint disease.

27 Jun 2006

Study of fetal DNA in serum and disease activity during pregnancy in women with inflammatory arthritis

During pregnancy, women with inflammatory arthritis usually experience disease improvement or even remission, while a disease flare regularly occurs within 3 to 4 months after delivery.

27 Jun 2006