Vaccines Could Help Prevent Arthritis Symptoms

Traditional methods of treating rheumatoid arthritis involve physical therapy to slow down disease progression and alleviate symptoms, but researchers say they are excited about a new potential treatment option.

According to researchers, they’ve developed a vaccine-like option that might be a gamechanger when it comes to rheumatoid arthritis, because it fights the underlying causes of RA. A clinical trial published in Science Translational Medicine said the vaccine has been proven safe and effective in its treatment of RA.

“Current therapies only treat the symptoms and slow the progression of disease,” said Professor Ranjeny Thomas, head of the autoimmunity division at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute in Australia. “We have designed a vaccine-style treatment or ‘immunotherapy’ specifically for individuals carrying high-risk rheumatoid arthritis genes and specific rheumatoid arthritis antibodies, called anti-CCP. This treatment teaches the patient’s immune system to ignore a naturally occurring peptide that is incorrectly identified as ‘foreign,’ resulting in the production of CCP antibodies and causing inflammation.”

Rheumatoid Arthritis

How It Works

Interestingly, the vaccine isn’t made of “foreign” components. According to researchers, the serum was developed by taking blood from each patient suffering from RA, treating and retraining the cells, and then re-injecting the blood back into the patient. The injection of the modified cells was proven to be safe, and it actually helped stop RA flares before they began.

Although it looks like a good avenue to continue exploring, researchers said the current methods used to treat a patient through this method is too burdensome.

“At this stage, the technique would not be ideal for widespread treatment or prevention of rheumatoid arthritis because it’s costly and time-consuming,” said Thomas. “However, the promising results of this trial lay the foundations for the development of a more cost-effective, clinically-practical vaccine technology that could deliver similar outcomes for patients,” she added.

Other doctors have faith in the science as well. Natural health practitioner Jenna Stone said using a person’s own treated cells to combat a condition is a great idea to test.

“It makes sense that a vaccine created by a patient’s own modified cells would in essence retrain their immune system, if they have an autoimmune disorder. In autoimmune illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis, we see the immune system attacking healthy cells instead of harmful invaders like it was created to do.”

Hopefully we can conduct more clinical trials on this technique and greatly reduce the cost and time consumption needed to develop this vaccine. I think it could be very beneficial for patients with RA.

Related source: HealthLine

How to Relieve Pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis

joint painRheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder that affects the joints.  It can cause painful swelling and deterioration of the joints.  It is often symmetrical, starting in the smaller joints and moving to larger joints as the disease progresses. RA impacts the synovium, the lining of the joints and eventually the cartilage, causing thickening and destroying the joint structure and alignment.  The damage is caused by inflammation, which is triggered by the body fighting and destroying the joint tissues.

Inflammation & Pain

RA is an inflammatory process.  Inflammation itself is painful.  Whenever a person has an injury, inflammation occurs.  In injury cases, this is a limited process, as the damaged tissue heals, the inflammation disappears, and the pain resolves.  In rheumatoid arthritis, the joint inflammation is an ongoing process.  Therefore, as long as joints become inflamed, pain can be a problem.

The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis is made based on exam and the findings of inflammatory markers in the blood being elevated as well as the finding of specific blood markers for rheumatoid factors.  The disease can be followed by the extent of inflammation, and whether the markers in the blood for inflammation are controlled.

Controlling Pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis

In the past, controlling rheumatoid arthritis was very difficult. Originally the main medications were steroids that had many side effects, especially when used long term.  Pain medications could control symptoms, but had no effect on the disease.  About 30 years ago, some cancer drugs were being used to control the immune system and these decreased the activity and severity of the disease.  In the last ten years, a number of drugs have been developed that specifically suppress the immune system.  These drugs, when they are effective, do a remarkable job at stopping inflammation, and markedly slow or eliminate the joint destruction.  When inflammation is stopped, minimal pain is present and there is no need for additional pain medications.

Controlling the disease process with the appropriate medications is the key to management of rheumatoid arthritis.  If you have RA, the disease should be managed by a Rheumatologist, a doctor specializing in the management of these types of conditions.  Pain is a characteristic of inflammation. If pain is present, this usually means that medications need to be adjusted to better control the disease.  Rarely, when RA is well managed, will a patient need any additional pain medication.