I saw this article in Medicine at Michigan magazine at a drs. appt. today:
http://www.medicineatmichigan.org/magazine/2008/summer/arthritis/
"If RA was an autoimmune disease, he says there’s a good chance someone
would have discovered the antigen by now. “Researchers have had 30-40
years to find the antigen, and I don’t think anybody has found it yet,”
he says.
Holosh*tz believes the underlying cause of the disease is in our DNA, specifically within human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes."
"The disease actually begins long before any physical changes develop in
the joints. “Rheumatoid factor and anti-CCP antibodies have been found
in stored serum samples from people who donated blood years before they
had any signs of rheumatoid arthritis,” Fox says."
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