RESEARCH - BH3 mimetic may help fight RA

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BH3 Mimetic May Help Fight RA

Medscape

WebMD Health News

J. DeNoon

January 29, 2010 — A ghostly " suicide " drug wafts into immune cells in

joints, making the cells self-destruct and reducing rheumatoid

arthritis in mice.

The drug, technically a BH3 mimetic dubbed TAT-BH3, is a man-made

molecule. One part of the molecule lets it drift through cell walls.

The other part mimics a chemical signal missing in the macrophage

immune cells that build up inside joints afflicted by rheumatoid

arthritis (RA).

Because they are missing this signal, macrophages in RA joints don't

die off as they are supposed to do. They live on, destroying bone and

inflaming the joint, says Perlman, PhD, associate professor of

medicine at Chicago's Northwestern University Feinberg School of

Medicine.

" In RA, there is this persistent inflammation that never shuts down.

Part of the reason is these macrophages are missing a protein they

need to die off, " Perlman tells WebMD. " So this drug says OK, let's

replace this protein. Let's bring back the death pathway. "

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/716147

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