Methods for treating arthritis by administering an apoptosis regulator
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsGary S. Firestein, Nathan J. Zvaifler, Douglas R. Green
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides a novel method for the treatment of cellular accumulation in chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The method includes gene delivery and gene expression that is capable of enhancing apoptosis of accumulating cells and those cells which recruit accumulating cells. Also provided are diagnostic methods for detecting cellular accumulation diseases.
Claims8
A method of ameliorating arthritis in a mammal, wherein said arthritis has an etiology associated with a defective apoptosis-regulating gene or polypeptide, the method comprising directly administering to a joint a viral vector comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide that regulates apoptosis operably linked to a promoter, wherein expression of said nucleic acid sequence results in a modulation of apoptosis such that the mammal exhibits a decreased swelling of joints and/or a decrease in bone loss.
A method for ablating apoptotic defective cells in an arthritic joint comprising:
- directly administering to a joint of a mammal an adenoviral vector comprising the DNA sequence encoding p53 operably linked to a promoter, wherein the adenovirus further comprises a deletion of the E1b55K coding region, wherein expression of said DNA sequence results in the ablation of apoptotic deficient cells such that joint swelling and/or bone loss decreases in the mammal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.