RESEARCH - Finding a potential new target for treating RA

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Finding A Potential New Target For Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis

MedicalNewsToday.com

Article Date: 26 Mar 2010 - 4:00 PDT

By enhancing the activity of immune cells that protect against runaway

inflammation, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center may have found

a novel therapy for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune

diseases. In a new study published in the March 25, 2010 online

edition of Science, the researchers reveal how treating these immune

cells with an investigational drug wards off inflammation by holding a

particular enzyme at bay.

" This is an unusual mechanism that could provide a potential

therapeutic approach for the treatment of autoimmune diseases like

rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory diseases like Crohn's disease, "

says , PhD, the Irene Diamond Professor of Immunology

and professor of pathology at NYU Langone Medical Center.

The new study was spearheaded by andra Zanin-Zhorov, PhD, a

post-doctoral fellow in Dr. 's lab, in collaboration with

Lafaille, PhD, associate professor of pathology and medicine, and

Abramson, MD, professor of medicine and pathology and director

of the Division of Rheumatology. The research was supported in large

part by a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health

Roadmap for Medical Research funding initiative, under its

Nanomedicine Development Center Program.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/183612.php

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