Could arthritis wonder drugs provide clues for all disease?
18.07.2008
Drugs that have helped treat millions of rheumatoid arthritis
sufferers may hold the key to many more medical conditions, including
atherosclerosis =96 a leading cause of heart disease =96 says the
researcher who jointly invented and developed them.
Professor Marc Feldmann will tell scientists attending the 2008
Congress of European Pharmacological Societies (EPHAR) =96 hosted by the
British Pharmacological Society =96 that drugs he and colleagues helped
develop have already proved successful against other autoimmune
diseases.
The drugs target proteins called cytokines, which are protein
messaging molecules released by immune cells to alert the immune and
other systems that the body is under attack from a pathogen and to
initiate a protective counter-response against the infection.
=93In autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis, we discovered that
cytokines are over-produced causing the immune system to fight itself,
resulting in inflammation and tissue destruction,=94 said Professor
Feldmann, from Imperial College London, who is speaking at the EPHAR
2008 conference at The University of Manchester this week.
=93We further found that by blocking just one cytokine =96 Tumor Necrosis
Factor (TNF) alpha =96 we were able to block all the cytokines involved
in the inflammation, with remarkable clinical results.=94
The team=92s research led to the development of three anti-TNF alpha
drugs =96 infliximab, etanercept and adalimumab =96 which have had a
dramatic effect on the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis patients,
protecting the joints from further deterioration in the vast majority
of cases.
Blocking TNF alpha has had further success in treating several more
chronic inflammatory conditions, including Crohn=92s disease, psoriasis,
psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and ulcerative colitis.
But Professor Feldmann, Head of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology,
believes similar drugs have the potential to treat many other medical
conditions and will also tell the conference about his work on
atherosclerosis, a disease affecting the arterial blood vessels,
commonly known as =91hardening of the arteries=92, with his colleague Dr
Claudia Monaco.
Their work, which has won a number of prestigious awards, has resulted
in the emergence of a new branch of medicine =96 anti-cytokine therapy =96
and research elsewhere has showed promise in yet more conditions,
including the potentially fatal acute alcoholic hepatitis.
Professor Feldmann said: =93During the conference I will be discussing
the potential therapeutic targets in tissue affected by
atherosclerosis, which is caused by a chronic inflammatory response in
the walls of the arteries, in large part, caused by an excessive
immune response to cholesterol.
=93I will also discuss whether it is possible =96 even likely =96 that
cytokines play a critical role in all diseases involving multiple
biological processes, thus providing therapeutic targets for all unmet
medical needs.=94
Aeron Haworth | Source: alphagalileo
Further information: www.ephar.org/index_fr.htm
www.ephar2008.org/
www.manchester.ac.uk
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