Southampton researchers at the forefront of rheumatoid arthritis research
Researchers in Southampton are playing a major role in research into the crippling condition of rheumatoid arthritis, which affects around 600,000 people in the UK.
Professor Michael Ward in the University of Southampton's department of molecular microbiology, and his team, are investigating the role of bacterial infection in the disease process of types of inflammatory arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Their work is being highlighted by leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign – which is funding the £78,000 grant over two years – during its Research Week (June 5-12), aimed at raising awareness of rheumatoid arthritis.
RA is an inflammatory disease, in which the body's immune system attacks the joints, leading to pain, stiffness and intense fatigue.
The charity is spearheading a major research initiative into RA by pumping around £6m into research centres throughout the UK. The outlook for patients in improving dramatically as better and more effective drug treatments are constantly developed.
The Southampton, Professor Ward is looking into the ways in which bacterial infection could provoke arthritis. One theory is that bacteria could migrate to the joint where they cause inflammation.
"There are a number of problems in looking for bacteria in the joint. Bacteria appear to be present in very low amounts, and their identity is unknown, and this prevents the use of conventional bacteria detection techniques," explained Professor Ward.
"We have developed a new technique which amplifies small fragments of DNA from any bacterial species to detectable levels, and by analysing its composition we can determine the bacteria's identity. We have used this technique to screen joint samples from a number of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and have found several microbes capable of causing disease in a proportion of the samples so far."
