Preclinical and Clinical Studies on Natural Products Used in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease with unknown etiology, characterized by progressive cartilage erosion leading to joint distortion and polyarthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis significantly affects the quality of life. Approximately 1% population of the world suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, and prevalence of RA is increasing day by day. There are many synthetic compounds available for the management and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis but,- these therapeutic agents have significant side effects like diarrhea, rashes, alopecia, stomatitis, infrequent myelosuppression, hepatotoxicity and other toxicities. Moreover, symptoms can reappear after discontinuation of the therapy. Because of these side effects, and limitations of the existing synthetic drug, patients are shifting their interest from synthetic to natural products for the treatment well as management of rheumatoid arthritis.This chapter gives an overview of several plants having medicinal properties with a potent therapeutic value that can be used for the management of rheumatoid arthritis.

Keywords: Cartilage erosion, Clinical study, Etiology, FCA, Joint distortion, Medicinal plants, Polyarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Synthetic drugs, Toxicity.