Scientists have identified a protein, sulfatase-2, that plays a critical role in the damage rheumatoid arthritis causes.
Rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic disease in which the immune system attacks the body’s own joint tissues, affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans.
Published in the journal Cellular & Molecular Immunology, the discovery sheds new light on the molecular processes that drive inflammation seen in rheumatoid arthritis. It could also someday lead to improved treatment of the disease, which currently has no cure.
“Tumor necrosis factor alpha—or TNF alpha for short—is one of the main inflammatory proteins that drive rheumatoid arthritis and is targeted by many currently available therapies,” says senior author Salah Uddin Ahmed, a professor in Washington State University’s College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences….