A naturally occurring peptide could reduce arthritic joint swelling as effectively as current medications, without suppressing the immune system.<\/p>\n
In the body, a peptide called PEPITEM is naturally produced. It acts as a brake on the immune system by telling white blood cells to stop migrating into healthy tissues and causing inflammation.<\/p>\n
Under normal conditions, this keeps the immune system active enough to fight infection but restrained enough to avoid attacking one\u2019s own body.<\/p>\n
But in the more than 53 million Americans with arthritis<\/a>, white blood cells in the joints stop responding to the hormone that normally triggers PEPITEM production. As a result of the lack of PEPITEM, widespread inflammation occurs.<\/p>\n Now, researchers in the UK and Italy<\/a> have shown that replacing the missing PEPITEM can reduce painful joint swelling<\/a> and prevent the bone damage that current therapies fail to reverse or repair.\u00a0<\/p>\n In animal studies, PEPITEM was as effective as the standard-of-care prescription drug infliximab at reducing arthritis-related inflammation.<\/p>\n PEPITEM was also able to treat patients without broadly suppressing the immune system, something standard medications do, creating risks of opportunistic infections, cardiotoxicity, and malignancy\u00a0<\/p>\n Additionally, the risk of toxicity is extremely low because PEPITEM is already naturally present in the body.<\/p>\n Over 53 million Americans suffer from some type of inflammatory arthritis, including\u00a0rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis, gout and ankylosing spondylitis (stock)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Over](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/04\/13\/19\/107864353-15729939-image-a-1_1776105866137.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n