Description

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease often resulting in increased morbidity, mortality and disability. A T-cell-mediated chronic inflammatory arthritis that can be induced in rats by a single intra-dermal injection of complete Freund's adjuvant. The modulation of immune system activity is a required pharmacological intervention for many medical conditions, bearing particular importance in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and allergies and transplant procedures. There is growing evidence that drugs or biological agents, capable of modulating single pathways or targets are of limited value as immune-related therapies. Botanicals are chemically complex and diverse and could therefore provide appropriate combinations of synergistic moieties useful in drug discovery. Hence, the importance of traditional medicine in natural product drug discovery related to immunodrugs are gaining interest attractive. With traditional immunomodulatory drugs continuing to exhibit limited efficacy and adverse side effects, the drive to develop new, improved, and specifically targeted immunotherapies has been gaining momentum.