The Silent Destroyer Of Joints (& What To Do About It)

When you get the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), usually the underlying problem itself has been doing its destructive thing for many* years beforehand. Which rather does make treatment difficult, because there is no real way to “catch it early” unless doing exceptionally specifically lab tests frequently.

*At least 7 years beforehand, probably more, but it was a 7-year study that uncovered this. We did a main feature about it, here:

Why Rheumatoid Arthritis Often Defies Drugs (& What Else you Can Try)

Thus, prophylaxis becomes necessary.

But first, we must understand more about the nature of the problem…

Persistence of memory

Researchers (Dr. Marta Piecychna et al.) identified why joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis RA can continue even when symptoms improve or, for that matter, even if the disease is entirely in remission.

First, understand: RA is the most common of the autoimmune forms of arthritis. It affects a little under 1% of the global population, but the older we get, the more likely it becomes, and it affects a little under 5% of women over 55.

We wrote more about it here: Tips For Avoiding/Managing Rheumatoid Arthritis

It being an autoimmune disease, the fact that it is “faulty T-lymphocytes” is not news. However, what Dr. Piecychna and her team discovered is that a subset of T-lymphocytes carries a receptor for macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), an immune hormone linked to more severe autoimmune disease.

Testing their hypothesis using a mouse model, they found that these MIF-sensitive T-lymphocytes expanded rapidly, and transferring them into healthy mice triggered RA-like joint inflammation.

Now, maybe you, dear reader, are not a mouse. However, this is still very relevant, because the exact same type of MIF-sensitive T-lymphocytes was found in joint tissue from people with RA undergoing joint replacement surgery.

The problem? These MIF-sensitive T-lymphocytes behave as memory cells, meaning they persist in joints and retain autoimmune activity long after initial inflammation subsides.

In other words, they don’t just cause trouble, but they remember how to do so, and will keep on responding to a threat (real or imagined) long after the initial threat (real or imagined) has passed.

To use a metaphor, it could be oversimplified that effectively, your immune cells have PTSD and are acting out because of it. Which explains why RA flare-ups often recur in the same joints previously affected!

The bigger problem? This means that even during clinical remission, these cells may drive low-level inflammation that slowly erodes joints over time.

You can read the paper itself, here: Pathogenic role of MIF receptor (CD74) expressing T cells in inflammatory arthritis

What this means for doctors: while biologic therapies control symptoms effectively, they do not eliminate these memory T-lymphocytes, which Dr. Piecychna and her team say highlights a need for therapies that target the underlying disease mechanism.

What this means for you: pay extra attention to avoiding/reducing inflammation, even if you have no inflammatory symptoms and are unaware of inflammation being a problem your body has right now.

As for how?

• How to Prevent (or Reduce) Inflammation
• Five Supplements That Actually Work vs Arthritis
• The Other Ways To Look After Your Joints

Want to learn more?

For a rather more in-depth treatment of the topic, you might like this book we reviewed:

Inflammation: The Silent Fire – by Dr. Carly Stewart

Take care!