Special issue—before translational medicine: laboratory clinic relations lost in translation? Cortisone and the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in Britain, 1950–1960

Abstract

Cortisone, initially known as ‘compound E’ was the medical sensation of the late 1940s and early 1950s. As early as April 1949, only a week after Philip Hench and colleagues first described the potential of ‘compound E’ at a Mayo Clinic seminar, the New York Times reported the drug’s promise as a ‘modern miracle’ in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Given its high profile, it is unsurprising that historians of medicine have been attracted to study the innovation of cortisone. It arrived at the end of a decade of ‘therapeutic revolutions’, kicked off by penicillin transforming the treatment of bacterial infections and ending with hopes of a revolution in the treatment of non-infectious, chronic inflammatory diseases. Despite these studies of cortisone’s introduction, few historians have taken the story forward and considered how cortisone was adopted and adapted into clinical practice. This article tells the longer of how the drug and its derivatives were taken from research laboratories and integrated into clinical practice; what has in recent decades become known as translational medicine (TM). In exploring cortisone’s first decade in Britain, we focus specifically on its role in the treatment of RA. Our approach is always to consider cortisone’s use in the context of other treatments available to clinicians, and at local and national institutional settings. We do not discuss the many other therapeutic uses of cortisone, which ranged for topical applications for skin diseases to the management of cancers, especially childhood leukaemia, nor do we discuss its close analogue ACTH—AdenoCorticoTropic Hormone. We think there are lessons in our study for TM policies today.

Circ-AFF2/miR-650/CNP axis promotes proliferation, inflammatory response, migration, and invasion of rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts

“…Moreover, fibroblast-like synoviocytes have important roles in the onset of RA [ 4 ]. Identification of fibroblast-like synoviocyte function in the present study fits into the framework of translational orthopedics by filling the gap between basic sciences and clinical sciences [ 5 , 6 ]. Therefore, illustrating the mechanism of fibroblast-like synoviocyte processes might help to understand RA pathogenesis.…”

Circ_0025908 regulates cell vitality and proliferation via miR-137/HIPK2 axis of rheumatic arthritis

“…In addition, our study may help bridge the gap between basic science and clinical science, thus accelerating the understanding of RA. Translational medicine (TM) is an emerging medical method and a process that effectively promotes medical progress [28,29]. Our next experiment will verify the role of circ_0025908 in clinical practice in the context of TM, so as to further promote the development of RA targeted therapy research.…”