Pregnancy and arthritis

1996/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

Relieving the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and stopping the most violent manifestation of this chronic disease is no longer a chimera. A team of researchers at the Jefferson Health Institute in Philadelphia has announced that the key to the new discovery is to renew in laboratory the defense mechanisms that women get spontaneously during pregnancy.

In fact, researchers have found that the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are naturally reduced during pregnancy and their cause is in the hormonal change that occurs during the evolution of the fetus.

This study has been published on other occasions. The Seattle Cancer Control Research Center in 1993 announced that the woman affected by arthritis transmits “uncontaminated” cells to the fetus during pregnancy, allowing her to cope with the disease. Can this phenomenon be used?

In Philadelphia they find themselves affirming and, using “uncontaminated cells”, they have produced a substance that would fulfill the role of vaccine. This substance is injected and treatment lasts about five months. To date this session has been held with 10 women, of which 8 have decreased the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.