medresearch: New Assay May Lead to Better Treatment for...

[Health and Medicine]

medresearch:

New Assay May Lead to Better Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have developed a test to measure the immunologic defect that triggers the inflammation present in rheumatoid arthritis.  They believe that clinical trials for new rheumatoid arthritis drugs should shift from their sole focus on relieving inflammation to eliminating the B cells that produce the antibodies that cause this defect.

“We have developed a test for measuring the underlying autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis patients that should be used to evaluate new treatment regimens,” says senior author Gregg Silverman, MD, professor in the departments of Medicine and Pathology at NYU Langone and co-director of its Musculoskeletal Center of Excellence. “We believe this provides a road to a cure for rheumatoid arthritis.”

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Funding:  This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act supplement, and a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH and NYU School of Medicine-Immunology and Inflammation Training grant.

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