EVANSTON, Ill., Sept. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've discovered why the immune cells of people with rheumatoid arthritis become hyperactive and attack the joints and bones.
Scientists at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois say the immune cells in arthritis sufferers have lost their "bouncer," a burly protein that keeps them in line the same way a bouncer in a nightclub controls rowdy customers, a university release said Wednesday.
The protein, called P21, prevents immune cells from launching into their destructive rampage through cartilage and bone, they said.
When and imitation of the protein into an animal model of rheumatoid arthritis, the disease process was halted, researchers said.
Researchers had known that arthritis sufferers were low in P21, but the protein's role was unknown until its "bouncer" function was discovered in the animal tests.
"The bouncer molecule stopped the immune cells from going crazy," lead author Harris Perlman, associate professor of rheumatology, said. "Imagine destructive customers in a bar, and the bouncer says, 'You are going to behave!' That's P21.
"This discovery opens up a new avenue for future therapies, which are greatly needed for rheumatoid arthritis."
