Science / Medicine : Testing of Anti-Arthritis Protein Begins in Humans

Researchers last week began trials in humans of a new form of therapy for rheumatoid arthritis that may block the progression of the disease, which affects 2 million people in the United States. Current therapies for arthritis, such as aspirin, reduce pain and inflammation but do not halt progression of the disease.

The researchers, at Synergen Inc. in Boulder, Colo., are using a recently discovered, naturally occurring protein called IL-1ra that interferes with the action of the immune hormone interleukin-1. Excess production of interleukin-1 has been implicated in a variety of autoimmune diseases--in which an individual’s immune system attacks his own body--such as arthritis and diabetes.

IL-1ra, isolated from white blood cells, binds to the site on cell surfaces that are normally occupied by interleukin-1, thereby preventing the hormone from binding and exerting its effect.