Major cash boost for research into "chameleon" disease in Manchester
RESEARCH in the Northwest into the arthritic condition of lupus has taken a major step forward, thanks to the award of a grant of £153,270 from the Arthritis Research Campaign.
The research, to be led by Dr Ian Bruce of the University of Manchester's Rheumatism Research Centre, could lead to the development of an exciting new treatment of lupus, and the prevention of heart disease, which is a common symptom of the condition.
The project has come about because of a unique combination of expertise within Manchester, particularly in the areas of clinical rheumatology, lipid and vascular research as well as basic science and molecular genetics.
Lupus, also known as systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE, is an auto-immune rheumatic condition which mainly affects women of child-bearing age. Typical symptoms include joint pains, skin rashes and exhaustion, although it can also affect the body's internal organs, particularly the kidneys.
"This is the first major grant for lupus research to be awarded to Manchester for several years, and I feel it represents a major step forward as we plan to study patients from several centres in the Northwest," said Dr Bruce, consultant rheumatologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Lupus is notoriously difficult to diagnose because it mimics the symptoms of many other conditions, and has been described as a "disease of a thousand face," and a "chameleon" disease.
Recently, research in Canada and the US has revealed that lupus patients also have an eight-ten fold increased risk of coronary heart disease.
"Recent research efforts have focused on the role of inflammation in the development of coronary artery disease," explained Dr Bruce. "We think the lupus represents a crossroads between inflammation and coronary artery disease, and it may have valuable lessons to teach us regarding how inflammation promotes coronary artery disease development."
Dr Bruce and his team aim to study a potent anti-inflammatory protein, which has been found to have a reduced level and function in both lupus and in some patients with coronary artery disease.
"Our project will seek to determine whether this protein may provide a link between the inflammation in lupus and the subsequent risk of heart disease that these women clearly have. Our preliminary experiments suggest that this may be true, and over the next 30 months we plan to perform a series of studies to see whether this is indeed the case."
The Arthritis Research Campaign is the fifth biggest medical research charity in the UK and in the past 12 months raised almost £22m from public donations.
Manchester is already a leading centre for ARC-funded research. The charity currently pumps in £4.38m into work in the School of Biological Sciences, the Musculoskeletal Research Group, and other academic research centres. It also puts £1.4m a year into its epidemiology unit at the university.
