New Immune System Clue to Low Back Pain
Researchers Identify Substance That May Trigger Inflammatory Process for Herniated, Degenerated Discs
Disc Degeneration, Herniation: Second Opinion
The research adds valuable new information to what is known about disc problems, says Theodore Oegema, PhD, a professor of biochemistry and orthopaedic surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who wrote an editorial to accompany the study.
He calls it ''a new twist to an old story."
It's already known that IL-17 contributes to the chronic inflammation seen in psoriasis vulgaris, the bone resorption problem in rheumatoid arthritis and gum disease, and in the intestinal disorder Crohn's disease, Oegema writes in the editorial.
The new research, he tells WebMD, supplies evidence of IL-17 cell involvement in early disc degeneration, not simply in herniation. In time, he says, researchers may develop methods, possibly with targeted drugs, to stall the degeneration of discs that can occur with age by blocking IL-17 in that area.