Animal models of arthritis generated by gene transfer

摘要: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a crippling autoimmune disease whose primary symptom chronic inflammation of the joints. Although considered to be systemic disorder, most commonly affected sites are wrist, knees and metacarpophalangeal The debilitating effects occur progressively over time. synovium, normally thin layer tissue that lines internal surfaces joint capsule, becomes dramatically thickened hypercellular from infiltrating leukocytes proliferating synovial cells. cells within synovium become activated, giving hypertrophied an aggressive phenotype. This activated tissue, called pannus, invades erodes articular cartilage subchondral bone. cumulative degradation structures often results in severe disfigurement loss function. Currently, there no available treatment can effectively halt progression RA.