Degeneration of the intervertebral disc, often called degenerative disc disease of the spine, is a condition that can be painful and greatly affect the quality of one's life. And while disc degeneration is just one more fact of aging life for quite a few individuals, degenerative disease can be the source of severe and chronic pain.

It is felt that some discs become painful due to inflammation, and when pain from degenerative disc disease is severe, traditional nonoperative treatment is often ineffective.

An article published in this month's issue of "Arthritis and Rheumatism" reveals that the immune system may contribute to causing the low back pain associated with herniated and degenerated discs. Researchers feel they have identified a substance that could trigger the inflammatory process for disc herniation and disc degeneration.

The substance is interleukin-17 (IL-17), and the authors of the article found IL-17 in more than 70% of surgical tissue samples taken from patients with degenerated or herniated disc disease. In contrast, IL-17 was rarely detected in healthy disc tissue samples. Apparently this finding has not been reported previously, and suggests that IL-17 may be a mediator for disc herniation and the inflammatory pain associate with both herniation and disc degeneration.