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Rheumatoid Arthritis Research

Decent Essays

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease (McInnes & Schett, 2011; Smolen & Steiner, 2003; O'Dell, 2004) wherein the immune response of the body is aberrant, tagging the healthy cells of the body as non-self or foreign which therefore leads the body to attack and eliminate its own tissues. RA affects the synovial joints and is characterized by joint inflammation and the tissues surrounding it (Curtis, Gaffo, & Saag, 2006). Moreover, around millions of the Earth’s population are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (Bingham & Ruffing, 2016). Patients detected to have this disease experience pain, stiffness or swelling in their joints (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nd; Drane, Berry, Bieri, McFarlane, & Brooks, 1997; Bellamy, …show more content…

Currently, treatment for rheumatoid arthritis include Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs (DMARDs), Biologics and Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) (Hawkins, et al., 2015). DMARDs and biologics are both efficient in easing the symptoms and delaying the progression of rheumatoid arthritis. However, biologics is more efficient than DMARDs since it does not only reduce the swelling and delay the progression of RA but also it decelerate the immune response that cause RA. Both medications can treat RA however both are extremely costly. For DMARDs, the cost is around $ 1,500 and $ 2,000 annually or around ₱ 69,000 to ₱ 93,000 when converted to Philippine peso. While the cost for biologic is around $ 30,000 or ₱ 1,390,965 annually per patient (Rheumatoid Arthritis, 2016). On the other hand, the main target of NSAIDs is to minimize inflammation rather prevent the deterioration of the joint (Bingham & Ruffing, 2016). In addition, NSAIDs may or may not cost more than DMARDs and Biologics since they price at $48 to $ 18,000 (₱ 2,200 - ₱ 835,389) annually (Consumer Health Choices, 2012). Since the treatment for rheumatoid arthritis is expensive this makes it inaccessible to the general …show more content…

In this study, crab shell wastes will be used as source of the treatment since they are readily available and abundant (Kim & Park, 2015; Das & Ganesh, 2009). Furthermore, crab shells also contain useful chemicals that may be used for pharmaceuticals (Chen & Yan, 2015). In addition, they contain high contents of chitin which is ideal as a source (Kim & Park, 2015; Das & Ganesh, 2009). Chitin is a nitrogen-containing structural polysaccharide present in the cell wall of fungi and exoskeleton of crustaceans, insects and other arthropods. The exoskeleton serves are protection and structural support for the arthropods (Pechenik, 2009). Furthermore, in crustaceans, the chitinous substances is added with calcium carbonate for added protection (Berg, Martin, & Solomon, 2006). Chitin has several derivatives and one of them is chitosan. Chitosan is obtained through deacetylation of chitin under alkaline conditions the acetyl group present in chitin is removed and thus the substance is converted into chitosan (Rinaudo & Younes, 2015). Chitosan is a copolymer composed of N- acetyl glucosamine and glucosamine and possesses various properties such as antimicrobial activity, biocompatibility and biodegradability (Teli

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