New cells can predict and treat rheumatoid arthritis

the treatment of dana Orange, a rheumatologist at Rockefeller University in the United States, was disastrous: someone could not bend their elbows when they brushed their teeth, and someone couldn't even hold their wallet. But the worst part, Orange says, is that the onset of rheumatoid arthritis is completely unpredictable. However, a new study published recently may change that.
Orange and colleagues found that in the weeks leading up to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, a newly discovered cell accumulates in the blood, which can lead to arthritis. If researchers can diagnose or treat these cells, they can predict or even prevent the disease.
Elewaut, a rheumatologist at the University of D? trent in Belgium who was not involved in the study, said the new findings are interesting because they could help clinicians and patients control the ups and downs of the disease more effectively.
rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes symptoms such as debilitating pain and irreversible joint damage. An estimated 1.3 million people in the United States suffer from the disease, with women more than twice as likely as men to develop the disease. Anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs can help control the condition, but the effectiveness of these drugs may diminish over time, with a rash in one-third of patients taking these drugs.
to better understand how the condition changes day by day, Orange and colleagues decided to track messenger RNA fragments in the blood of five rheumatoid arthritis patients. They wanted to know if there was a consistent change in the type of RNA circulating in the blood before symptoms appeared.
, but the team believes the ideal tracking would require patients to go to the lab at least once a week to draw blood. This was not realistic for patients, so they asked five volunteers to collect their own blood at home once a week , similar to the way some diabetics monitor their condition.
researchers have also developed a new buffer solution that, when mixed with blood samples, can hold RNA for at least 24 hours, allowing patients to mail blood samples to the lab.
Robert Darnell, a neuro-oncologist at Rockefeller University and the study's co-author, said blood pumping lasted more than 200 weeks, and the researchers analyzed which RNA was most abundant before, during and after each patient reported symptoms. They then matched the data to known characteristics of the cells that cause inflammation, reproducing patterns of immune activity.
, they found a "significant and unexpected (RNA) signal." Its source is interstate cells, which develop into connective tissue in the body and fill the joints. This interstumogenated cytoRNAs continue to appear in each patient in the weeks leading up to the outbreak of symptoms, while inflammation-related RNA appears in sync with it. The team called these special cells pre-inflammatory interstumuration (PRIME) cells.
To test their findings, the researchers then took samples from 19 other patients with rheumatoid arthritis and found that the levels of PRIME cells were much higher than those of the healthy control group, which recently reported the results in the New England Journal of Medicine. Darnell said that while the findings do not imply that PRIME cells cause attacks, these patterns suggest that they are part of arthritis attacks.
researchers also found RNA characteristics associated with immature white blood cells, which peaked a few days before PRIME cells became active. White blood cells are responsible for initiating a cascading response to immune activity, and dysfunctional white blood cells are associated with a variety of autoimmune diseases. Taken together, Darnell said, the findings suggest that PRIME cells can be mobilized by abnormal immune systems.
findings could help researchers prevent rheumatoid arthritis. Orange says that if PRIME cells help diagnose and treat them, "you can at least plan your life and even stop the symptoms from coming." (Source: Tang Erdu, China Science Journal)
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