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Shi Huang

One of the world’s most abundant rare earth elements could offer a comprehensive, long-lasting treatment for gout, a Chinese team has found.
The extremely painful form of inflammatory arthritis has plagued humanity for millennia. “No other pain is more severe than this, not iron screws, nor cords, nor the wound of a dagger, nor burning fire” – that is how the ancient Greek physician Aretaeus described the disease in the second century AD.
More than 55 million people worldwide had gout in 2020, according to US health data, with the number expected to rise by 70 per cent by 2050.
The disease begins with raised uric acid levels in the blood, or hyperuricemia. Consistently high uric acid causes the formation of joint crystals that trigger severe, sudden pain attacks. If left untreated, this monosodium urate (MSU) crystal build-up can lead to joint deformities, kidney damage and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Researchers with the school of pharmaceutical sciences at Shanghai Jiao Tong University are now holding out hope, with a medication based on rare earth oxide nanoparticles that could target the cause of gout and relieve its severe pain.
Animal studies showed that the drug not only lowers uric acid levels but also reduces the formation of gout crystals, alleviates inflammation, and inhibits osteoclast or bone breakdown activity, thereby addressing all painful symptoms of gouty arthritis (GA), the team said.
This is a feat no existing treatment has ever achieved.
The study was published online this week in the peer-reviewed journal Biomaterials, ahead of the February 2027 print issue.
“It is believed that this work establishes a comprehensive multi-stage intervention strategy for GA treatment and provides insights for managing other inflammatory diseases,” corresponding author Wang Yin, an associate researcher at the university, wrote in the paper.
Wang and his team developed a multifunctional “sweeper” drug, with a core structure made up of hollow nanoscale oxides of cerium – the most common rare earth element.
The world’s largest rare earth mine, the Bayan Obo deposit in northern China, is a light rare earth deposit mainly composed of fluorocarbonate cerium minerals.
The newly created drug consists of spherical nanoparticles, with a core or inner layer and an outer layer, and an overall diameter of around 100 nanometres. Different drug components can be added to each layer, with the nano size allowing for slow release within the body.
For the core layer, the Shanghai team used uricase – an enzyme that breaks down uric acid – protected inside hollow cerium oxide nanoparticles. This protective shell allows the uricase to safely clear uric acid without being destroyed by proteases – or specialised enzymes that break down proteins.
The outer layer is made of modified chondroitin sulphate, a compound designed to capture excess nitric oxide. By neutralising nitric oxide, this outer shield helps to reduce painful inflammation, the animal tests showed.
Additionally, it can inhibit MSU crystal growth and provide joint lubrication.


After synthesising the nanoparticles, the team confirmed their efficacy in lab cultures before testing them on rats.
They established a rat model of acute gout based on the pathological onset of the disease in humans, and directly injected the drug into the joint cavity.
The anti-inflammatory effect was superior to single use of uricase, chondroitin sulphate, or its modifier compound o-phenylenediamine, and comparable to direct hormone injection for emergency pain relief in gout, the team wrote.
Moreover, the drug can remain in the joint cavity for up to five days, achieving a long-lasting local effect that hormone therapy cannot accomplish.
Compared with a control group of untreated rats, the drug reduced crystal build-up in the kidneys but it did not completely clear it. However, joint inflammation and cartilage damage were almost fully healed, with tissue in the treated rats back to near-normal levels.
This indicates that the drug can reduce inflammation and crystal formation during acute gout flares, thereby protecting bones.
But the trials also indicate limitations. Because the drug is injected directly into the joint with minimal absorption into the bloodstream, it cannot effectively treat high uric acid levels throughout the body.
In terms of safety, researchers reported that the nanomedicine was non-toxic to cells, safe for the blood, and caused no liver or kidney issues in the animal trials.
The drug’s “unique advantages are unmatched by single-target agents” and provides a “rational basis for designing next-generation crystallisation inhibitors”, Wang wrote.
“Beyond GA, this multi-target, cascading sweeper presents a versatile therapeutic strategy for other crystalline diseases … or inflammatory disorders,” he concluded.


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Nanoparticle ‘sweeper’ drug eases joint inflammation and cartilage damage from the painful form of inflammatory arthritis in rat trials


Nanoparticle ‘sweeper’ drug eases joint inflammation and cartilage damage from the painful form of inflammatory arthritis in rat trials.


Shanghai Jiao Tong University

China’s rare earth cerium drug can kill gout pains once and for all: scientists

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Nanoparticle ‘sweeper’ drug eases joint inflammation and cartilage damage from the painful form of inflammatory arthritis in rat trials

Nanoparticle ‘sweeper’ drug eases joint inflammation and cartilage damage from the painful form of inflammatory arthritis in rat trials