Harvard University School of Medicine
Collagen Type II STUDY RESULTS by Alex Duarte, O.D., Ph.D.
At Harvard University School of Medicine, Dr. David Trentham and his colleagues gave very small doses of solubilized collagen type II to 10 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. These patients had all immunosuppressive drugs and anti-inflammatories such as methotrexate and mercaptopurine removed before they took the collagen type II.
Patients took small doses of collagen type II for one month and then increased the dosage for two months thereafter. The dosage was determined through the various animal studies that had determined specific concentrations.
The clinical response was defined as a 50% or greater improvement in the number of swollen and tender joints, accompanied by a 50% or greater improvement in two additional measures (morning stiffness, 15 meter walking time, grip strength, Westergren erythrocyte sedimentation rate, or physician global assessment), lasting for at least two months after the treatment period.
SIXTY PERCENT of the patients showed substantial clinical response and one patient showed a complete response in which the disease was totally eliminated for 26 months. More importantly, there were absolutely no side effects .
These results were so profound that a 90 day, double blind, phase two study was conducted on 60 patients with very severe, active rheumatoid arthritis. It's important to note that these patients were not beginning or moderate cases, but the most severe cases that can be usually encountered.
Patients either received the solubilized type II collagen or a placebo. (A placebo is a non-active type II collagen look-alike). The concentration was equivalent to that in the first study.
At the end of the study, 59 of the 60 patients were evaluated. Twenty-eight had received the collagen type II and 31 had received the placebo.
Compared to the placebo group, the collagen type II group showed significant improvements in joint swelling, tenderness or pain. This also included the degree of swelling and tenderness together. The doctors evaluated the response in a 15 meter walking time at months one, two and three. During the period at which the patients were taken off immunosuppressant drugs, those that received the collagen type II show stability and/or even improvement while those in the placebo group tended to deteriorate. However, four of the patients in the placebo group did show a significant placebo effect.
Four patients in the collagen type II group went into the next realm of the almost unbelievable, and showed a complete resolution of the disease. That is correct. You have read this material correctly. These people no longer had symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. It must be understood that no patients in the placebo group showed remission. No side effects or negative laboratory effects were seen during the study.
It is believed that by feeding type II soluble collagen to rheumatoid arthritis patients, their T-cell function is modulated either to the extent that the suppressor T-cells are triggered and migrate to the joint to block the T-cell mediated inflammation, or it just simply stops the T-cell destruction of the joint.
The Harvard Study was sponsored by Autoimmune, a Lexington, Massachusetts biotechnology company. Only highly purified chicken sternal collagen type II was used.
This report from the book entitled "The Collagen Type II Cure for Arthritis and Heart Disease", by Alex Duarte, O.D., Ph.D. Published October 1997, ISBN # 1-891036-11-4
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