Another false hope or a real breakthrough ?

Mormodook

Researchers at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich have developed what they claim is cure for arthritis in mice that could be rolled out for humans in a few years. It is all over the news just now and I was wondering what fellow RA people were thinking about it. I'm on anti TNF - Enbrel and when I got RA about 16 years ago I never dreamt that medical science would have advanced even that far. So maybe this is "the one" ? There are so many silly cure claims going around that we get turned off even reading them but this one seems different. What does everyone else think ? Hope you are all as well as possible. P.S I'm no use at attaching links but if you google the 3 words - arthritis cure mice - you get links to the story

stickywicket

Thanks, mormodook. I did google it and the article is here if others want to read it for themselves http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140806102806.htm

I'd go for very, VERY cautiously optimistic but with a lot of caveats.

1. It's only at the 'mice' stage ie it'll be years before it can be of use to humans assuming all goes well.
2. It's only been tried for RA not all the other auto-immune forms let alone OA.
3. It seems to rely on speed so, even if, some years down the line, the human trials proved good and NICE accepted it, there is no reason to suppose it will help those of us with a well-established disease.in several areas.

So, I think it has the potential to be great news for future sufferers and thanks for the info.

dreamdaisy

Mice are already involved - anything with 'mab' in its name means it's based on mouse-proteins. No doubt this research will eventually lead to another med which is brilliant for some and next to useless for others.

I learned many moons ago not to get my hopes up - the crushing disappointment when things didn't happen as I was told they would was not worth the previous excitement. Mind you, on the board at the moment there is the option of crobra venom . . . . . DD

barbara12

There are always new things on the horizon, so its a waiting game but hopefully in the near future..always the optimistic..

Roadback

I get weary of constant Daily Express headlines of new cures - it is also worth remembering that these companies are in some respect giving a heads up to the market for their new drugs. Stories like this can help to boost stock prices in a company

The researcher found that subjecting the blood cells to Progesterone caused the blood to go on to develop T-Regulatory cells that are crucial for the body to regulate the autoimmune response.

No big biotech involved here - just a humble researcher. ATM :shock:

Edited due to long link one that leads to another site.
Mod CK

DianeB

I've read the article and I am sceptical, in my opinion, mice don't naturally suffer RA so that would have been given to them, then it's like giving an antidote to the genetic alterations the mice had gone through. But on the other hand the research is being done which I'm grateful for.

Roadback

I read in other research that the mice they use are "humanised" - with human genes added. They add the genes that relate to the development of arthritis HLA-DR etc.

Some of the research is very interesting - as they have proven that mice that have these humanised genetic changes do develop arthritis.

One of the most relevant areas of recent research has been that germ free mice (where there gut is kept completely sterile) with the same Hla-Dr genes for susceptibility do not develop arthritis.

Hence another nod to the environmental impacts.

stickywicket

I always thought that virtually all meds were initially tested on mice because of their short life cycle. It means results come in quicker. I always thought that that was a good reason not to get too excited about results with mice.