Researchers at the University of Manchester have identified evidence of several new genes behind the chronic inflammatory disease rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which affects 387,000 people in the UK.

Inflammatory rheumatic disease and smoking independently predict aortic inflammation, suggests study of coronary artery surgery survivors

Rheumatology researchers have discovered that a well-known cell receptor sends a signal to dampen the immune system.

An immune system component that is a primary cause of bone destruction and inflammation in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis actually protects bone in the oral cavity from infectious pathogens that play a major role in periodontal disease in humans, research at the University at Buffalo has shown.

In rheumatoid arthritis, a person's own immune system attacks the joints by activating the synovial tissue that lines the body's movable joints, causing inflammation, swelling, pain and eventually erosion of the bone and cartilage and deformation of the joint. It is among the most debilitating forms of arthritis, often making difficult even the simplest of daily activities.

A chronic autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is marked by inflammation that takes a progressive toll on not only the joints, but also various organs and the whole body. RA sufferers, as many studies have shown, tend to face a high risk for early death, increasing with the severity of their symptoms. The most prevalent cause of death among RA patients is cardiovascular disease.

Autoimmune diseases such as type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis are caused by the immune system attacking the body's own tissues. Determining the factors that trigger the immune system to attack is an area of intensive research.

New insights could lead to better vaccines, treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, study suggests

A complex autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by chronic inflammation and progressive joint damage. This process begins with hyperplasia, or excessive increase in size and thickness, of synovial tissue. Along with provoking cartilage and bone destruction, this abnormal tissue growth is resistant to apoptosis, the natural cell death vital to the generation of healthy new cells.

Using the massive computer-simulation power of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego, researchers are zeroing in on the causes of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.