Study: Enzyme Discovery May Lead to New Treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis

The discovery of an enzyme found in abnormally high levels in diseased joints could lead to the development of new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.

As reported September 15 in the on-line issue of Genes and Development, Japanese researchers found that high levels of the enzyme synoviolin often foreshadow an overgrowth of joint-destroying synovial cells, a key feature of rheumatoid arthritis.

By reducing levels of synoviolin, the researchers hope to halt the proliferation of synovial cells and the devastating progression of rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis involves the chronic inflammation of the synovium, or lining of the joint, accompanied by the overgrowth of synovial cells.

Because this mass of cells eventually invade and destroy the cartilage and bone within the joint, the researchers realized that regulating this overgrowth of cells would be the key to designing new therapies to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

In their study, the researchers genetically engineered one group of mice to produce an excess of synoviolin and another group of mice to engineer half the normal amount of synoviolin.

The mice with excessive synoviolin developed spontaneous arthritic joint disease, suggesting that too much synoviolin is an important factor in the development of rheumatoid arthritis. However, the mice lacking in synoviolin were protected from arthritis.

The researchers plan to focus their future efforts on designing reagents to reduce the amount or inhibit the activity of synoviolin in diseased joints.

Other sources: Cold Spring Harbor Lab