Researchers discover peptide that may reduce rheumatoid arthritis

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis might soon benefit from a treatment based on an endogenously occurring natural peptide known as vasoactive intestinal peptide.

A team of researchers led by Mario Delgado from the faculty of biology of the Complutense University of Madrid reported this month in Nature Medicine (2001;7:563-8) that administration of the peptide in mice with a rheumatoid arthritis-like disease strikingly suppressed clinical joint disease. It also seemed to block both the inflammatory and autoimmune components inherent in the disorder.

By immunising mice with type II collagen, the researchers induced …