Despite its side-effects cortisone gets used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis since 1948. Researcher of the Leibniz Institute for Research Age in Jena discovered important details in the mechanism of action that are useful for the separation of the desired therapy and its side-effects. The researcher were able to show in which kind of cells cortisone operates and how the relevant mechanism (for a successful therapy) works in this cells.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an extra ordinary painful, chronic inflammationof the joints. During the progress of disease it will lead to adeformation of the joints and will damage the articular cartilage andbones. Around one percentage of the worldwide population is sufferingfrom the disease that is also called “rheumatism”. In Germany there areabout 800.000 patients with swollen joints that are warm and sensitiveto pressure. A misguided immune system (when own cells are attacked)might be a chief cause.

The Discovery of the hormone Glucocorticoids and its successful usefor the treatment of arthritis (in 1948 the Nobel Prize for medicinewas given for it) made it possible for the first time to treat thedisease. Until today this discovery and the medicine cortisone is usedfor therapy against rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammationsdiseases. Unfortunately cortisone showed pretty soon that it has morethan just good effects with long-term usage it brings seriousside-effects, water and fat storage, diabetes as well as osteoporosis.Cortisone can be a blessing and a curse.

Even though cortisone is used for more than 60 years for thesuccessful treatment of arthritis it was unknown which cells in thebody are responsible for the therapeutic effect and which mechanismlies behind the process. These are important questions that need to beanswered considering the serious side effects of cortisone so medicinewith minor side-effect can be developed.

Researcher of the Leibniz Institute for Age Research –Fritz-Lipmann-Institute (FLI) in cooperation with immunologists andpathologists of the Fredrich-Schiller University Jena (FSU) as well asGöttingen and Lyon (France) succeeded for the first time in discoveringand proving the mechanism that underlies the anti-inflammatory effectof cortisone as well as which types of cells of mouses play animportant role during the treatment a type of rheumatoid arthritis. Thefindings are released online in the current issue of the journal “PNAS”(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2011, doi:10.1073/pnas.1105857108).

Contact:
Dr. Kerstin Wagner
Leibniz-Institute for Age Research
Fritz-Lipmann-Institut (FLI)
Beutenbergstr. 11
07745 Jena

Tel.: (0551) 39-7740 oder -7714
Contact via E-mail

• A mystery solved – How cortisone operates within the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis