Dundee Scientists Awarded Grant for Arthritis Research
SCIENTISTS in Dundee have been awarded a grant of over £70,000 by the leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign, to help them develop a better test for the common, but little-known condition of Sjögren's syndrome.
A team led by senior lecturer Dr Richard Kay in the department of Molecular and Cellular Pathology at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, hope to complete their project into Sjögren's within 12 months.
Sjögren's syndrome is a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys saliva and tear-producing glands along with other tissues. The condition affects around half a million people in the UK, and occurs mainly in women between the ages of 40 and 60.
The most common symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth, and feeling very tired and aching. It can also occur in people who have rheumatoid arthritis. The causes are unknown, although it may be triggered off by a virus.
Dr Kay hopes his team's research will lead to better and more effective testing of patients for Sjögren's, so that improved therapies can be developed.
"By the time the diagnosis is made the damage is done, because the symptoms only become apparent once the saliva and tear-producing glands are destroyed," he explained.
"A special type of blood cell, called a T cell, causes the tissue destruction that occurs in Sjögren's syndrome, and it now looks like we can identify the disease-causing T-cell in both the salivary glands, and, more importantly, the bloodstream of patients."
The test for the condition that has been developed at Ninewells already picks up 67 per cent of patients, but Dr Kay now wants to refine it to pick up more patients, and identify more people before damage occurs.
