Newcastle scientists awarded grants of £¾m to investigate arthritis
Scientists in Newcastle have been awarded two major grants totalling £¾m by medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign to investigate the causes of rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a crippling inflammatory disease which affects 600,000 people in the UK. Inflammation in the lining of the joint leads to joint destruction, pain and stiffness. Despite improvements in treatment, there is still no cure.
Professor Tim Cawston, Professor of Rheumatology at Newcastle University, said that the two grants would further encourage the interaction of doctors and scientists, so that the basic research in the medical school was linked directly to the treatment of patients at the Freeman Hospital.
Professor Cawston has been awarded a £600,000 programme grant over five years. He plans to follow up his team's recent exciting discovery of a new messenger molecule called Oncostatin M, which is responsible for switching on the harmful enzymes that cause the destruction of joint collagen.
Professor Cawston's field of interest is the destruction of cartilage and bone that leads to loss of joint function in inflammatory arthritis. Over the past few years he and his team have identified which enzymes (called collagenases) break down tissue in the joint, and are currently trying to find different ways to stop them working.
"The loss of cartilage from the surface of bone within arthritic joints causes pain and instability and makes joints difficult to move," said Professor Cawston. "This programme of work builds directly on the results of our discovery that Oncostatin M switches on the enzymes which cause joint destruction. If we can switch them off, or at least stop them working, then we could identify new therapeutic targets."
Meanwhile, up and coming doctor Dr Steven Young Min has been awarded an ARC Clinical Research Fellowship of £132,384 to carry out work complementary to that of Professor Cawston, which he hopes will lead to improvements in patient care and treatment.
Dr Young Min will recruit patients from the Newcastle area currently being treated for early rheumatoid arthritis in order to study collagen degradation and joint destruction. Over a two-year period, Dr Young Min will aim to identify biochemical markers that predict which patients will go on to develop severe, destructive disease, and hopes to enable more accurate monitoring of a patient's response to treatment.
"I hope that this project will lead to genuine clinical improvements, may identify which enzymes cause joint damage, and provide new targets for new drug treatments," added Dr Young Min.
