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Scientists develop an effective vaccine for rheumatoid arthritis

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Rheumatoid arthritis is a widespread autoimmune disease that affects millions of people around the world and is not yet treatable.

A team of scientists from the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Toledo and Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, has developed an experimental vaccine that shows significant promise in preventing rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that is not yet treatable.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, mark a significant advance in the research of rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune illnesses in general.

Rheumatoid arthritis, one of the most prevalent autoimmune illnesses, develops when the body’s immune system assaults and destroys healthy tissue, most notably the lining of joints in the hands, wrists, ankles, and knees.

According to some estimates, rheumatoid arthritis affects up to 1% of the global population.

“In spite of its high prevalence, there is no cure and we don’t entirely know what brings it on. This is true of nearly all autoimmune diseases, which makes treating or preventing them so difficult,” said Dr. Ritu Chakravarti, the study lead author from UToledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences.

“If we can successfully get this vaccine into the clinic, it would be revolutionary.”

Chakravarti has spent years researching a protein known as 14-3-3 zeta and its role in immunological pathologies such as aortic aneurysms and interleukin-17, a cytokine linked to autoimmune illnesses.

The study team had previously identified the protein as a potential cause for rheumatoid arthritis.

The researchers found that removing the 14-3-3 zeta protein using gene-editing technology causes severe arthritis in laboratory animals.

Then, based on the assumption that the 14-3-3 zeta protein protects against rheumatoid arthritis, scientists developed a vaccine based on a purified protein grown in a bacterial cell. 

In subsequent animal experiments, the authors proved that the vaccine promotes a strong, immediate and sustained response from the body’s innate immune system, which provides protection against disease.

They found the vaccine promoted a strong and immediate — but long-lasting — response from the body’s innate immune system, providing protection against the disease.

“Much to our happy surprise, the rheumatoid arthritis totally disappeared in animals that received a vaccine,” Chakravarti said.

“Sometimes there is no better way than serendipity. We happened to hit a wrong result, but it turned out to be the best result. Those kinds of scientific discoveries are very important in this field.”

In addition to preventing the onset of arthritis, the vaccination dramatically enhanced bone quality, implying that there might be long-term advantages from immunization.

Currently, corticosteroids, broad-spectrum immunosuppressive medications, or newer, more targeted biologics that target a specific inflammatory process are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

While these therapies can relieve pain and halt disease development, they can also render patients more susceptible to infection and, in the case of biologics, can be expensive.

“We have not made any really big discoveries toward treating or preventing rheumatoid arthritis in many years,” Chakravarti said. “Our approach is completely different. This is a vaccine-based strategy based on a novel target that we hope can treat or prevent rheumatoid arthritis. The potential here is huge.”

Researchers have applied for a patent on their findings and are looking for pharmaceutical industry partners to help fund safety and toxicity investigations with the aim of starting a preclinical trial.

Source: DOI 10.1073/pnas.2025257118

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