Gold's power against autoimmune diseases defined

[RedOnce]

Mystery solved: Gold's power against autoimmune diseases defined

Gold compounds have been used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases for more than 75 years, but until now, how the metals work has been a mystery. Harvard Medical School researchers report in the Feb. 27 issue of Nature Chemical Biology that special forms of gold, platinum, and other classes of medicinal metals work by stripping bacteria and virus particles from the grasp of a key immune system protein.

"We were searching for a new drug to treat autoimmune diseases," says Brian DeDecker, PhD, HMS post-doctoral student in the Department of Cell Biology and a study co-author...."But instead we discovered a biochemical mechanism that may help explain how an old drug works." During their search through thousands of compounds they found that the known cancer drug, Cisplatin, a drug containing the metal platinum, directly stripped foreign molecules from the MHC class II protein. From there, they found that platinum was just one member of a class of metals, including a special form of gold, that all render MHC class II proteins inactive.

In 1890, a German doctor named Robert Koch found that gold effectively killed the bacteria that caused tuberculosis. In the 1930s, based on a widely held but probably erroneous connection at the time between tuberculosis and rheumatoid arthritis, a French doctor, Jacques Forestier, developed the use of gold drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Gold drugs have been used since then as an effective treatment for this and other autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, but treatment can take months for action and sometimes presents severe side effects which have diminished their use in recent years.

With this new understanding of how these metals function, it may now be possible to develop a new generation of gold-based drugs for treating rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases that are more effective with fewer side effects.

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/mystery_solved_golds_power_against_autoimmune_diseases_defined_10104.html

[ThomCat]

1. That's cool.

It will be interesting to see this develop.

[RedOnce]

2. Yes indeed! It's interesting to...

finally have proof after 75 years of use!

[OxQQme]

3. Manna from heaven

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna#Esoteric_view

Manna could also be an alchemical production derived from gold, purified by the alchemists and also known as the philosophers stone. It was ground into a powder and made into bread as featured in the Egyptian Book of the Dead (shewbread) it was supposed to extend lifespan and was part of the Egyptian death ritual fed to the elite to guarantee passage into the afterlife.

[RedOnce]

4. Well, it may have been in use...

much longer than 75 years then!