Key Highlights
- A study has helped scientists discover a key new cause of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease
- Leakage of bacteria from lining of guts causes intensifies inflammation in the stomach and causes increasing pain to the joints.
- Now researchers at the University College London hope to find a cure by working ahead on this find.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term condition that causes pain, swelling, and stiffness of the joints. Data available after research on the condition shows that every 4 out of 5 patients of this painful condition are between the age of 35-50 and most of the RA patients suffer pain in the wrists, hands, and feet. More women than men have susceptible to this painful condition.
Thankfully, now a study has helped scientists discover a key new cause of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease and that in turn could lead to the formulation of a highly effective treatment that could likely be available within just three to four years from now, says a report in Express.co.uk. The concerned study by researchers at the University College London (UCL), though, is published in the journal Med and was funded by the Versus Arthritis charity and government bodies UK Research and Innovation and the Medical Research Council.
It has been found after research that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) develops after damage to the gut causes it to leak and allows bacteria to cross the lining of the gut into the body. This intensifies inflammation in the stomach and causes increasing pain to the joints. UCL researchers discovered that restoration of the gut barrier could offer a new therapeutic approach to reducing the severity of RA symptoms.
Until now, scientists and doctors could not tell what initiates disease and how it accelerates. Professor Claudia Mauri of UCL and the co-lead author of the study said: “We wanted to know what was happening in the gut and whether changes to the intestinal lining - which usually acts as a barrier to protect the body from bacteria - are a feature of the disease and contribute to its development.”
According to inews.uk, experts not involved in the study said the findings significantly increase our understanding of the disease that could lead to effective new treatments.
“This is an exciting study [that] may help to identify new ways to treat arthritis in some patients,” Professor Simon Milling, of the University of Glasgow who edits the British Society for Immunology’s journal Immunology reportedly told inews.
Researchers of the study suggest that the discovery of the growth of bacteria in the gut will play a vital part in initiating the disease. If the second clinical trial is deemed a success, an existing drug will be found to be effective and become available for RA patients on the NHS within three to four years, Professor Mauri said.
“This is an exciting study (that) may help to identify new ways to treat arthritis in some patients,” said Professor Simon Milling, of the University of Glasgow.
Dr Neha Issar-Brown, Director of Research at Versus Arthritis told “The findings are exciting on many fronts. Not only do they demonstrate a link between damage to the gut lining, its microbiome and rheumatoid arthritis, but they also show how it might be triggering the immune system and contributing to inflammation and the onset of RA.”
Professor Claudia Mauri of UCL however also cautions that though they expect the next study to be able to find a drug in 3-4 years, it could also take longer or maybe they fail to find a drug for the RA treatment at all.
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