Rheumatoid arthritis and herbal drugs: A review

Abstract

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology that affects 0.5% of the population and can result in disability owing to joint destruction, characterized by joint synovial inflammation and progressive cartilage and bone destruction resulting in gradual immobility. The greatest disadvantage in the presently available potent synthetic drugs lies in their toxicity and reappearance of symptoms after discontinuation. With limitations of existing drug molecules herbal drugs are gaining interest among RA patients. Medicinal plants are plants containing inherent active ingredients used to cure disease or relieve symptoms of arthritis. The aim of this review is to update information on RA including causes, epidemiology, prevalence, symptoms and diagnosis, classification, medications, toxicities of allopathic anti-rheumatic drugs and importance of herbal drugs for the management of RA. The present review also focuses on the medicinal plants that interact with the mediators of inflammation and are used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).