Bone Marrow Defects Seen in Rheumatoid Arthritis Might Hinder Experimental Therapies

Researchers at the University Hospital of Heraklion, Greece, and St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, report that patients with active rheumatoid arthritis have abnormalities of bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells, and the bone marrow microenvironment is unable to support normal development of blood cells.

Writing in the March 1, 2002, issue of Blood, scientists believe these abnormalities are due, at least in part, to increased production of tumor necrosis factor alpha by inflammatory cells within the bone marrow. The study was undertaken to discover reasons why some of the 70 patients who have undergone autologous stem cell transplantation, which is being explored as an alternative treatment for severe, refractory rheumatoid arthritis, relapse.

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