rheumatoid arthritis hope

The research team, from University College London, will announce today that their pilot study may offer hope to 750,000 people in Britain who live with the disease.

The treatment consists of drugs which destroy the body's own ß-cells, part of the immune system which defends the body against disease. Sometimes these ß-cells attack the body's own tissue, leading to rheumatoid arthritis. The body responds to the destruction of all its ß-cells by producing more. Theoretically, it is unlikely that the new ß-cells will precipitate a return of rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr Anthony Clarke, medical director at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatoid Diseases, said it is too early to hail it as a wonder cure. "Eighteen patients have shown benefits but for any new drug you have to put it through a long, testing process to make sure early promise proves to be correct and to make sure it is safe."

The patients in the study had had rheumatoid arthritis for an average of 20 years, he added. The ß-cell-based therapy might also offer hope to patients with other auto-immune diseases, such as Crohn's disease, lupus and even multiple sclerosis, as it suggests ways of stopping the destructive cycle in which the immune system turns on the body's own tissues.

The results of the research will be announced today at a meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Philadelphia. The findings will be also published in the journal Rheumatology.

The rheumatoid form is only one version of arthritis; osteoarthritis generally appears in old age as the collagen becomes worn naturally and is not replaced. The UCL team's treatment will have no effect on that.