Oxford scientists win more funding for arthritis research
TWO Oxford scientists have been awarded two major grants of almost £210,000 by medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) for work into osteoarthritis.
The cash injection is a further boost to researchers and medics in Oxford, which is a leading centre of arc- funded research. The charity currently pumps in more than £3.5m into 21 different projects.
Osteoarthritis is a common degenerative joint disease that causes pain and stiffness and affects more than one million people in the UK. It occurs when the healthy cartilage protecting joint surfaces wears away, leaving bone ends to rub against each other.
Although for years osteoarthritis was thought to be an inevitable part of the aging process, it is now known that many sufferers have a genetic predisposition to the disease, although joint injury and repetitive activity are also risk factors.
Lecturer in musculoskeletal sciences at the University of Oxford's Botnar Research Centre, Dr John Loughlin, has been awarded a two-year grant of more than £90,000 to continue to track down the genes responsible for causing osteoarthritis.
"We've already shown that this disease has a large genetic component, and have identified a region of the human genome that contains a gene predisposing to osteoarthritis in women patients," explained Dr Loughlin.
"We now need to identify that gene from the hundred or so others that also reside within the region. Identifying the gene will without doubt lead to a much better understanding of the causes of osteoarthritis, and knowledge about the gene could help develop new drug treatment."
MRC Senior Scientist Dr Tony Day at the university's Department of Biochemistry has been awarded almost £119, 000 over two years to find out more about cartilage; specifically how healthy cartilage works and what goes wrong during arthritis.
"The key aims of this work are to understand how the structure and organisation of cartilage changes during disease, and to find out how the molecules responsible for the load-bearing properties of cartilage get broken down," he commented.
