Medical Laboratory World

Medical Laboratory World: "Patients’ own blood cells key to rheumatoid arthritis vaccine
14 August 2008

Patients’ own blood cells key to rheumatoid arthritis vaccine
14 August 2008

Scientists at Newcastle University may have developed a vaccine which will suppress the effects of rheumatoid arthritis using a patient’s own blood cells, the Arthritis Research Campaign, which is funding the research, has reported.

The Newcastle team has developed a way to chemically manipulate a patient’s white blood cells so that they develop into tolerogenic dendritic cells, using chemicals, steroids and Vitamin D, before they are injected back into the patient’s knee in the form of a vaccine.

While the immune system normally protects the body by fighting infection, in auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis it attacks body tissue, causing inflammation.

“Based on previous laboratory research we would expect that this will specifically suppress or down regulate the auto-immune response,” explained John Isaacs, professor of clinical rheumatology in the university’s Musculoskeletal Research Group, who is leading the team.

Cell biopsies will be taken two weeks after the injection to establish whether it has induced the expected response.

The effectiveness of the vaccine will initially be tested at the Freeman Hospital, in eight volunteers who have rheumatoid arthritis. The Arthritis Research Campaign is providing £216,000 over the next 18 months to fund the research.

Although a similar technique has been used in cancer research, this is the first time it has been adapted to rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis affects more than 350,000 people in the UK and there is no cure for the disease. New anti-TNF therapy drugs, developed and pioneered by the Arthritis Research Campaign, have significantly improved treatment over the last decade. However, because these drugs work by suppressing the immune system, they can leave patients at risk of developing infections.

The organisation hopes that a successful outcome from the Newcastle research may lead to the development of new drugs that specifically switch off unwanted immune responses without suppressing protective immunity.


Related websites
Arthritis Research Campaign
Newcastle University Musculoskeletal Research Group