The Cause of Gout Symptoms

Drug manufacturer Savient has announced that the drug Puricase is entering a new phase of clinical trials. This is great news for people whose Gout does not respond to standard drug treatments or those who are unable to take currently available medicines.

Given that pork products have long been acknowledged to hasten Gout attacks, it is ironic that Puricase is derived from pigs — specifically porcine urate oxidase.

Another positive aspect of the beginning of these new phase 3 trials is the news that 100% of the patients who successfully completed the first two phases have opted to continue treatment.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been a trickle of articles about the “miracle Swiss Gout discovery”. The research they refer to is from Professor Jürg Tschopp and his team at the University of Lausanne.

As we know, gout is caused when excess uric acid in the bloodstream crystalizes. The crystals collect in the joints of the extremities. The joints become inflamed, and and if untreated, the crystals will eventually destroy the joint and perhaps even erupt through the skin, leaving the victim open to infection, aside from excruciating pain.

The Lausanne research examines why the presence of crystals causes the inflamation. The findings are that the crystals stimulate a gene called NALP3, which then releases active inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL-1).

It is apparently IL-1 that is the direct cause of Gout. From the article:

Preliminary data reveals cases of patients suffering from gout … being instantly cured after treatment with either IL-1ra (natural inhibitor of IL-1) or an antibody against IL-1. Clinical trials with the antibody have been initiated and may well lead to a major breakthrough in the treatment of these and other inflammatory diseases, as well as of neurodegenerative disorders such as MS.

What the articles so far seen on this research do not seem to address is this question: if the uric acid crystals still exist in the bloodstream, but an immune reponse is surpressed, what other potential harm can these crystals cause? If they only collect in the joints because inflammation causes them to gather there, are they truly harmless in-and-of themselves? Will they adhere to arterial plaque? Will they block and kill off capillaries?

Read more:

Of mice and men – how mouse models shed light on human diseases [Europa]

Gout discovery offers hope for arthritis [Swiss Info]

PittsburghLIVE! is running a story on a very determined man named Bob Eazor.

When Eazor - who is now 77 - was in his thirties he was diagnosed with Gout and told he would be on medication for the rest of his life. At that moment, Bob decided to make a major life change, and avoid the pills his doctor recommended.

After forty-odd years of exercise and eating right, not only has he avoided Gout meds and recurrences of his Gout, but he has just completed a race to climb all 1,576 steps of the Empire State Building! Bob completed this feat in a mere 25 minutes!

While not everyone chooses to make the changes that Mr. Eazor has, or forego medication for their Gout, we certainly applaud him!

Read More:
77-year-old steps up [PittsburghLIVE]