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Antimetabolites
Because rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease which involves the immune system attacking and destroying joints, drugs that prevent immune responses in the body and decrease inflammation have been utilized in the treatment of this disease. The class of medications capable of these actions is called disease modifying antirheumatic drugs or DMARDs. Some of the
drugs are cytotoxic agents, which means they kill rapidly
dividing cells as are seen in inflammatory conditions like RA or in
cancer. Methotrexate, for example, interferes with DNA synthesis, which
prevents cell replication, and suppresses the immune reaction in the body.
It is used
in larger doses in cancer chemotherapy.
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DMARDs and
cytotoxic agents relieve pain, swelling, and inflammation
and may halt damage to cartilage and bone.
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As with drug development in other areas, growing
knowledge of the molecular processes of the body, together with
advances in genetic engineering techniques and drug design, is leading
to a new generation of medications. These medications may prove to be a
major advance on their predecessors, because they are more precisely
targeted to inhibit very specific elements of a disease process. Drugs in the class
Methotrexate (Rheumatrex, Trexall) |
