Calcitonin and glucocorticoids - a novel approach to anti-inflammatory co-therapy

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease (1% prevalence; 3:1 women to men ratio) characterised by chronic progressive joint destruction and pain, and accompanied by extra-articular manifestations, such as lung fibrosis. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are the most powerful anti-inflammatory agents that we possess, and play an important role the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, including RA, yet their associated catalogue of profoundly adverse effects renders prolonged prescription problematic. GCs enhance osteoclastogenesis, resulting in increased bone resorption and ultimately GC-induced osteoporosis. Calcitonin (CT), on the other hand, attenuates bone resorption. Here we investigate the co-therapeutic synergy elicited through the combined administration of sub-therapeutic GCs and CT in rat collageninduced arthritis, a model of RA.