Information for Medical Professionals

Cell protein discovered which helps battle osteoarthritis naturally

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California and the National Research Institute for Child Health and Development in Japan believe they have found a protein which forms part of the body's natural defence against osteoarthritis.

It is hoped that the discovery of microRNA 140, a non-encoding protein that is involved in gene expression, could further the pharmaceutical industry's fight against the debilitating disease.

Writing in the journal Genes & Development, the researchers claimed that this is the first time that non-coding genetic material has been implicated in the process of bone development.

"Surprisingly, we observed that microRNA 140 acts against arthritis progression. This is among the first evidence that non-coding RNA plays a key role in age-dependent diseases," Hiroshi Asahara, associate professor of molecular and experimental medicine at Scripps Research said.

Older research published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that there are a number of genetic mutations which dramatically increase a person's likelihood of developing arthritis.

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