Alpacas to the rescue?

An antibody derived from alpacas significantly reduced cartilage erosion and inflammatory cell infiltration in two mouse models of rheumatoid arthritis, says research published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

When mice with arthritis were injected with the antibody sdAbA1, they had significantly lower scores for hind paw arthritis. The antibody produced better decreases in inflammatory cells that the commonly used drug infliximab, and no toxic effects were observed.

So the new antibody could become an attractive treatment for people with rheumatoid arthritis who don’t respond to current drugs, particularly because it can be easily produced and is not too costly. Before that happens, however, it needs to be tried out on humans.

To read the original research visit http://arthritis-research.com/content/15/6/R208/abstract.