Oswestry scientists awarded major grant from arthritis charity
SCIENTISTS in Oswestry have been awarded a major grant of £93,131 by leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign for work aimed at finding new treatment for the crippling condition of rheumatoid arthritis.
More than 600,000 people in the UK are affected by RA, an auto-immune disease which leads to inflammation in the lining of the joint, causing swelling, pain and stiffness.
The ARC grant will enable a team at the arthritis research centre in the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry to find out more about how the disease process works, and possibly reduce the severity of joint damage.
"In RA the joints become inflamed and painful, and this inflammation is associated with the migration of white blood cells into the affected joints where they play an essential role in the disease process," explained Dr Jim Middleton, clinical scientist and senior lecturer in orthopaedics.
"Chemokines, a class of chemical messengers produced in inflamed tissues, are believed to be involved in attracting the white cells from the blood stream. The present project aims to understand some aspects of this mechanism."
"The knowledge gained could pave the way towards the design of new medicines that reduce the passage of leucocytes into the joints, and reduce the severity of joint damage in RA."
