The need for tissue engineering
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
Treatments
- Analgesics
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
- E.g. aspirin
- Side effects
- Take extra drugs to relieve the side effects
- Disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs)
- Biological therapies:
- Anti-TNF (has a key role in inflammation)
- Anti-IL-1 (acts as a messenger during inflammation)
- Corticosteroids
- Cortisone (a natural hormone) was the first
- Reduce inflammation well
- But lots of side effects, including osteoporosis
- Used in 3 ways:
- Injection into inflamed joint
- Intramuscular or intravenous injection
- Taken orally