SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Arthritis on the Move
from ScienceNOW Daily News
The same cells that ravage the cartilage of rheumatoid arthritis patients also carry the disease from joint to joint, a new study suggests. The work points to several possibilities for halting the spread of this crippling condition.
Rheumatoid arthritis typically appears in a single joint at first, but it often spreads throughout much of the body within a few years. The autoimmune disease destroys cartilage padding between bones and causes inflammation in joints, resulting in intense pain and lack of mobility. It differs from osteoarthritis, which is the normal, long-term wearing away of the padding in isolated joints.
Scientists had known that certain types of fibroblasts--cells that help bind wounds and build the connective tissue that supports other cells--are responsible for damaging cartilage, says Elena Neumann, a molecular biologist at Justus-Liebig University in Bad Nauheim, Germany. These rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASFs) appear in the fluid within joints and secrete enzymes that decompose cartilage.
Read more...
Click here to listen to podcasts of American Scientist Pizza Lunches, informal lectures where scientists present new research to non-scientists. Originally intended for science communicators in the Research Triangle Park region of North Carolina, the audio slideshows are now available to anyone online. New talks are posted periodically during the academic year.
Science in the Media
Newspapers:
Magazines and Web Sites:
The Science-Media Intersection:
Subscribe to Our Content!
Visit our RSS Feeds page to choose among 13 customized feeds, or create a free My AmSci account to request an email notice whenever a specified author, department or discipline appears online.