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A cancer drug could cure rheumatoid arthritis
01/Oct/2006: Gleevec, an effective cancer drug, can cure rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study conducted by the University of Stanford.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory autoimmune disorder, which causes the immune system to attack the joints. More than 2 million Americans suffer from this disease and more than half of them are disabled after 15 years due to disfigured joints. Even though many therapies are available to treat this disease, patients do not get full relief from these treatments.
Ricardo Paniagua, the study’s first author and a MD/ PhD student, looked at every drug approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration, in an attempt to find a new treatment to rheumatoid arthritis.
He said that a combination of rational selection and accidental discovery helped his team to discover that Gleevec worked better than any other drugs in curing rheumatoid arthritis.
The study found that Gleevec completely prevented the development of an arthritis-like disease in mice. Researchers also found that the drug halted the progression of established disease, by reducing inflammation and bone destruction around the joints.
Testing this drug on the cells of rheumatoid arthritis patients, the researchers found that it reduced the processes associated with inflammation and abnormal growth in the joints.
Bill Robinson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and the study’s senior author, said that they were surprised to find how effective this drug was on rheumatoid arthritis and he added that the results were encouraging since the drug was already approved by the FDA and has relatively less side effects.
However, the researchers warned doctors not to use this drug for treating rheumatoid arthritis patients, until clinical trials of this drug are completed and it gets established as safe and effective drug for rheumatoid arthritis.
K Siva
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