New prospects for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

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Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory and destructive arthropathy. Current therapies fail to stop joint damage and reduce long-term disability. Greater understanding of disease pathogenesis has identified many inflammatory mediators as possible therapeutic targets. Novel therapeutic agents, such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), cytokine receptor-human immunoglobulin constructs, recombinant human proteins and antisense oligodeoxynucleotides targeting these inflammatory mediators have been tested in rheumatoid arthritis with some success. In particular, inflammation can be effectively suppressed using anticytokine therapies. However, the ideal treatment for RA, one that is immunomodulatory and induces prolonged disease remission after a single course of therapy, still eludes us. Strategies aiming to achieve this include TCR peptide vaccination and anti-CD4 mAbs, currently in clinical trials in RA.