Evolutionary Backtrack Offers Up Novel Rheumatoid Arthritis Candidate

A peptide found exclusively in Old World monkeys has been shown to completely reverse joint disease in a rat model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and could represent a new form of "retroevolutionary’" therapy for RA in humans, according to researchers in the U.S. The peptide, known as rhesus θ-defensin 1 (RTD-1), is the prototype of a family of small cyclic θ-defensins, which are the only circular proteins found in animals.Studies headed by Michael Selsted, M.D., Ph.D., chair an