Discovering the specific functions of cells within the body has helped scientists unlock therapies for cancer and design antibiotics. In a recent study, researchers found cells found in blood tests which signals a warning if a person may develop rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute recently published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine, describing the function of PRIME cells. These specific cells accumulate in the bloodstream a week before rheumatoid arthritis symptoms occur.
Dr. Robert Darnell from the Rockefeller University in New York explained that the PRIME cells can better predict when flares, or severe symptoms of pain and swelling, may occur. Moreover, their new data could help develop a new treatment for chronic inflammatory disease.
'PRIME cells are one thing you might want to target to arrest the flare before it happens,' Darnell said. 'That's the ideal of medical science - to know enough about a disease that you can put your finger on what's about to make someone sick.'
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune and inflammatory condition affecting the joints. Genetics plays a big factor in the risk of attaining and triggering the disease although doctors have been unable to pinpoint when the symptom began. Treatment and therapies are available but there is no cure.
Analyzing Blood Tests
Studying rheumatoid arthritis is difficult because symptoms change dramatically every week and flares occur at different times. It's also difficult for patients to do frequent testing in clinics.
To solve this, Darnell and his team created a blood collection system that patients can do at home, similar to a diabetes blood test. The blood collection is done by adding a blood sample to finger sticks and then his lab receives them. At the same time, patients kept records of their symptoms to note the frequency of flares.
While the team tested the blood samples, they looked for molecular changes that may occur before the symptoms began. In the bloodstream, they identified the various types of cells present when symptoms didn't occur and those preceding flares.
Two weeks before a flare occurred, they observed an increase in B cells, a type of immune cell. Darnell explained that this was normal and that B cells attacked the joints during flares.
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PRIME Cells
A week before flares, there was another change in the RNA, the first type of genetic mismatch not seen before. The RNA signature did not belong to a blood type of immune cell, described the team, but cells resembling bone, cartilage, and muscle cells.
The new cell was called the pre-inflammation mesenchymal cell, or PRIME. Mesenchymal cells are stem cells that develop into cartilage or bone. PRIME cells increased a week before flares occurred and were gone during a flare.
Darnell interpreted the cell activity to be a warning sign of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. After the study, the team hopes to expand their research with more patients to determine if PRIME cells can predict the occurrence of flares. Furthermore, studying the cells' molecular characteristics, said Darnell, can help them understand 'the unique aspects of PRIME cells might enable us to target them with a drug and get rid of them.'
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