A METHOD FOR THE TREATMENT OR PREVENTION OF BONE EROSION

摘要

There is provided a method for the treatment or prevention of bone erosion caused by a disease that activates osteoclasts (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis) comprising administering to a patient an anti-human Fas monoclonal antibody HFE7A or a humanized version thereof, as well as a composition for use in such a method. There is also provided a method for testing a substance for the treatment or prevention of bone erosion comprising: transplanting pieces of dentine and synovial tissue from a patient suffering from a disease that activates osteoclasts to immunodeficient non-human mammals; administering the substance to be tested to at least one of the test animals and a control to at least one different test animal and breeding them; and then extracting said pieces of dentine from the test animals and counting the number of resorption pits formed on the surface of each piece that was in contact with said sample of synovial tissue.