Newswise — 50 million Americans suffer from arthritis. That's one in five people who deal with this pain. May is Arthritis Awareness Month. Researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla(SBP)are working hard to try to ease that pain...for good.

Dr. Carl Ware is the Director of the Infectious and Inflammatory Disease Center at SBP, and head of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF). He is available to answer the following questions, and more.

What are the most common types of arthritis?

"20 million people have Osteoarthritis, many from previous injuries, many are older and have bone degeneration. 1.3 million Americans have Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), which is an auto-immune disease where the body's immune system fights itself. There is no cure for either type."

What's new in research?

"We are investigating how to modulate the immune system to avoid joint destruction and mechanisms of tissue repair. It’s an area we’ve been wanting to get into. Recent research shows the immune system is essential for the ability to repair muscle in animal models. It shows the immune system can be involved in the restorative process. We are trying to find ways to accelerate that."

Talk about the progress being made in this disease.

"There are several new drugs that have come on the market in the last few years to treat in particular RA, Psoriasis, and Crohn's disease, and more are in the works. Researchers are in the process of designing new therapeutics that stop the ability of the immune system to cause damage. A lot more research is needed."

What are some of the challenges in researching this disease?

"We know there is no single cause of RA, there may be many different causes that lead to the disease. Our therapies have to be able to account for all those causes, and no therapy gets them all. We need to design therapies that are specific for each patient. That's personalized medicine."

What are your hopes?

"Our hope is that with more research we can repair the tissue and get back normal function for people with debilitating arthritis, and I feel optimistic that we can do that. Each day brings more insight into how the immune system functions. We'll get there."

To speak to Dr. Carl Ware of SBP, please contact Kristen Cusato, Communications Manager, SBP at [email protected]