Disabling Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Medical News Today reports on a first step towards gene therapies for rheumatoid arthritis. A newly identified gene, Foxo3a, "may open a new window for treating arthritic conditions caused by immune dysfunction. Currently, most treatments in development for these disorders focus either on preventing wayward immune cells from attacking the joints or on reducing the ability of these cells to open fire. The new results suggest it may be just as helpful to let these cells kill themselves and each other. ... evolution has somehow provided protective mechanisms for innate immune cells when they go into the hazardous inflammatory environments they create. They need ways to keep themselves alive, and Foxo3a is one of those ways." Remove that ability and errant immune cells cannot survive to do damage.

Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=24462