Rheumatoid Arthritis – Pathways To A Cure

Research holds the key to tomorrow’s advancesin preventing, controlling and curing arthritis and provides hope for a future free from arthritis for the 46 million men, women and children with doctor-diagnosed arthritis. The Arthritis Foundation's research program includes studies relevant to all forms of arthritis, as well as studies that focus on specific conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

The Goals
• Todeveloptechniques,includingbiomarkerandimagingtests, to allow for disease diagnosis before the onset of symptoms.
• Toidentifyandminimizetherisksassociatedwithdisability andmortality.
• To promote early and aggressive treatment strategies that will limit joint damage, which often occurs within the first two years of disease.
• Toincreaseourunderstandingofthegeneticandenvironmental factors that trigger RA development.
• Toidentifyhowimmunecellsandinflammatorymolecules contribute to joint damage and to test new therapies that block those molecules.
• Toevaluateexerciseandcopinginterventionstohelppeoplewith RA reduce their pain and improve function and quality of life.
• To engineer tissue that can withstand and hold up under the harsh environment of a joint with RA.
• Toidentifyanddevelopstrategiestocombatcomplicationsthat come with RA and the medications used to treat it.

The Facts
• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common and serious forms of arthritis.
• People with RA are two times more likely to die than people of the same age without RA in the general population.
• RA is a chronic disease characterized by inflammation of the lining, or synovium, of the joints.
• People with RA often experience fatigue, and may have loss of appetite and low-grade fever.
• Morning stiffness lasting for several hours is common. • RA can lead to long-term joint damage, resulting in joint
deformity, chronic pain, loss of function and disability.
• RA affects 2.1 million Americans, and 2.5 times as many women as men are affected.

The Inspiration
More than 2 million people in the U.S. have had their lives forever changed by rheumatoid arthritis.

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• Rheumatoid Arthritis