Conquering Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Latest Breakthroughs and Treatments
The cause and treatment of many diseases is being advanced on a  molecular level, an area of science and medicine not easily  understood by the average person. Lee (microbiology and  biotechnology, St. Anselm Coll.; The Human Genome Project) here  attempts to make sense of recent research in rheumatoid  arthritis (RA), focusing on the evolution of molecular and  gene-based therapies for this autoimmune disease, which affects  two million adults and children in the United States. Lee offers  detailed scientific explanations of RA, an overview of the  immune system and its role in the disease, and a description of  the inflammatory sequence that launches RA. He then discusses  the multibillion-dollar research efforts by universities,  biotechnology centers, and the pharmaceutical industry to  develop gene-based therapies and follows up with a discussion of  the nature of clinical trials and a survey of therapies  currently in the pharmaceutical pipeline. Lee mentions the  ethical implications of human genome research but admits that it  is not the intent of his book to discuss this area of debate  thoroughly. Recommended for consumer health collections. Lisa L.  McCormick, Jewish Hosp. Health Sciences Lib., CincinnatiCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.