Gene discovery points to new possibilities for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

12/3/2002 4:58 AM EST

Gene discovery points to new possibilities for the treatment of
rheumatoid arthritis

Swedish researchers at the University of Lund and Arexis AB have
identified a gene that plays a key role in arthritis development. This
breakthrough, published in Nature Genetics, will be of crucial
importance for the development of new therapies against rheumatoid
arthritis (RA) as well as other severe inflammatory diseases such as
multiple sclerosis.

RA is a chronic and debilitating autoimmune condition that results from
a complex interplay between several genes and environmental factors.
This complexity has eluded scientific efforts to identify the individual
genes that contribute to disease development - until now. The research
team headed by professor Rikard Holmdahl, one of Arexis' founders, made
their discovery through detailed characterisation of specific rat
strains that develop a condition similar to human RA. The identified
gene, Ncf1, has been previously described, but has never before been
associated with RA. It points to a novel mechanism that regulates
disease severity and causes joint erosions, which are also typical
manifestations of human RA. Ncf1 produces a subunit of an enzyme complex
that regulates the activation of T cells, a class of immune cells which
are primary culprits in RA development. The information will now be
exploited by Arexis in a drug discovery programme.

Professor Rikard Holmdahl says: "Due to the genetic heterogeneity of the
human population, there has been a growing pessimism among scientists
regarding the possibility of identifying genes associated with common
diseases. We have now shown that our strategy works and that our
extensive research efforts have been worthwhile. This research strategy
will help us identify additional genes and provides detailed insight
into their role in the disease process. At the same time, we are
generating important research tools that enable us to develop novel and
more specific therapies in a faster way.

"This demonstrates the power of genetics to pinpoint novel mechanisms
that can be exploited in drug development. This new groundbreaking
biological information gives us opportunities to develop more efficient
and precise principles for RA therapy", says Dr. Lennart Hansson, CEO of
Arexis.

Arexis AB is a drug discovery and development company pioneering the use
of genetics in highly selected disease models to pinpoint the specific
genes involved in multifactorial metabolic and inflammatory diseases.
Founded in 1999, Arexis is dedicated to address unmet medical needs and
deliver improved therapies based on effective and selective new drugs.
The main office is located in Gothenburg.

For more information please contact:

Vidar Wendel-Hansen, Chief Business Officer, Arexis AB +46-703261032
  www.arexis.com

Rikard Holmdahl, Professor,
Department. of Medical Inflammation Research, +46-462224607
University of Lund
  net.inflam.lu.se