Can TNF inhibitors stop bone damage in psoriatic arthritis?
Posted 3/6/08 Researchers have learned more about how a leading drug prevents certain types of arthritis from eating away at bone, according to a study published in the March issue of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. Psoriatric arthritis (PsA), like rheumatoid arthritis, is an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly attacks its own tissues. The attack comes in the form of inflammation and can result in bone erosions. “In erosive psoriatic arthritis, mistaken immune signals tell osteoclasts to keep digging, as if they were trying to get at an infection buried inside the bone,” said Edward M. Schwarz, PhD, professor of Orthopaedics within the Center for Musculoskeletal Research at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and an author of the study. Osteoclasts: Cells that rid the body of aging bone. Osteoblasts: Cells that form new bone. In past studies, Schwarz and his team found an increased frequency of osteoclast precursors in the blood of patients with PsA. Past work has
