Oxford doctor awarded charity grant to go gene hunting
An Oxford doctor has been awarded a major grant by the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) to investigate the genetic basis of the potentially crippling condition of rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr Sinead Harney, a specialist registrar at the department of rheumatology at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, has been awarded a three-year £172,800 clinical research fellowship from the medical research charity.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects around 387,000 people in the UK, and is almost three times as common in women than men. It causes inflammation in the lining of the joint, resulting in severe pain, swelling and stiffness. Internal organs can also be affected. The disease is incurable, although can increasingly be effectively treated by a number of drug therapies.
The causes remain unknown, although risk factors for developing the disease include smoking and obesity. But genetic factors also play a major part, with some people being genetically predisposed to developing RA, which tends to cluster within families.
“Genetic factors account for 60 per cent of the risk of someone developing rheumatoid arthritis,” explained Dr Harney. “One gene, HLA-DRB1, is definitely involved in the disease, and there is strong evidence that at least one other nearby gene is also involved. Our project is to identify that gene.”
New therapies to treat RA more effectively are being developed all the time. If Dr Harney's search for one of the genes which causes RA proves to be successful, it would significantly increase understanding of what causes the condition, and possibly lead to new treatments and diagnostic tests.
The Arthritis Research Campaign is the fourth biggest charity in the UK, and in the past 12 months raised £26m from public donations to fund its extensive research programme. Oxford is a leading arc-funded centre.
