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news.Researchers at Biogen Idec have found that activation of a recently discovered inflammation pathway may play an important role in the disease process that causes rheumatoid arthritis.
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The studies, which have been published in the Journal of Immunology, advance the understanding of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and demonstrate that inhibiting a molecule named TWEAK may provide a new approach to developing RA treatments.
Discovered by Biogen Idec and University of Geneva scientists, TWEAK belongs to a family of molecules called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) that plays an important role in normal immune system and inflammatory responses.
TNF-inhibiting therapies are currently used to treat a number of diseases including RA, a chronic, autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and swelling of the joints and the surrounding synovial tissue, resulting in progressive damage to the cartilage and bone.
TWEAK stimulates blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) and production of inflammatory proteins called cytokines and chemokines. The published studies found that TWEAK promotes a number of events that are hallmarks of rheumatoid arthritis, including joint inflammation and synovial angiogenesis (blood vessel growth in joints).
“Despite considerable progress, many rheumatoid arthritis patients do not adequately respond to current treatments, indicating that other pathways are involved in this complex disease,” said Dr Timothy Zheng, senior scientist of molecular discovery at Biogen Idec. “Our investigative research suggests that TWEAK contributes to the disease through multiple mechanisms, and inhibiting the TWEAK pathway may represent a new set of opportunities for treatment.”