This is one of several articles I've read which claims a vaccine for RA is down the pipe :
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/117 109231855480.xml&coll=6
That's wonderful for people who don't have it, but I worry if a vaccine
is developed that people will stop looking at a cure or developing new
drugs for those that already have it. Also, if it's not an infection,
how can there be a vaccine for it? I'M SO CONFUSED.
That was my thought..how can they develop a vaccine for a disease they don't know the cause of? It will be great if it happens but on this one I have my doubts
It's not that kind of vaccine. They're targeting the immune system, making it produce auto-antibodies against the naughty, um, thingy . . . er, things . . . well this is how they say it!
"The researchers first identified that IP-10 is one of the specific proteins responsible for the progression of these diseases, and more importantly that the immune system tries to restrain the harmful activity of IP-10 by producing auto-antibodies against it. They then generated a special vaccine that amplifies the production of these beneficial antibodies. This vaccine rapidly suppressed experimentally induced rheumatoid arthritis and MS. "
This is from 2002, I wonder how far they've gotten? http://www.ats.org/news.php?id=48