Steroids prevent protein changes seen in the joints of people with rheumatoid arthritis
Friday, January 27, 2012 - 04:02
in Health & Medicine
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease where the body begins to attack the joints and organs of the body. Proteins within inflamed joints are often modified by citrullination, a process that converts the protein building block arginine into citrulline. These two amino acids have very different physical properties and consequently conversion can result in aberrant changes in the three-dimensional structure of an affected protein. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy shows that glucocorticoid therapy can reduce the amount of citrullination and the amount of the enzyme peptidylargininedeiminase 4 (PAD4) responsible for citrullination in the joints of people with RA.