New research to tackle the causes of blood clotting disorder
A London scientist is to spearhead an international approach to tackle a serious blood clotting disorder which causes stroke in young women.
Dr John Ioannou from University College, London has been awarded a clinician scientist fellowship of £283,000 by the Arthritis Research Campaign to study the condition of anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS), a clotting disorder which leads to thrombosis and frequent miscarriage.
APS, in which the body’s blood clots too quickly, potentially affecting any vein or artery, is the most common cause of thrombotic stroke in people aged under 50. Around 30 per cent of people with APS also suffer from lupus, an auto-immune condition affecting the joints and internal organs.
Previous research by the medical research charity helped to drastically reduce the rate of miscarriage by giving women at risk special anti-coagulant (blood thinning) medication.
However, although the risk of thrombosis can be reduced by low-dose aspirin, some patients still die as a result.
Now Dr Ioannou, from UCL’s Centre for Rheumatology aims to understand the basic mechanism of how the disease occurs to find more effective ways of treating it. For the first two years of his three-year fellowship he will be working with scientists in New South Wales, Australia, before bringing his newly-gained expertise ands knowledge back to the UK.
“Clearly there remains an unmet need for safer, targeted therapies for APS, and this need is likely to be achieved through developing a greater understanding of the underlying pathogenic mechanisms,” explained Dr Ioannou.
In APS patients have circulating antibodies that cause cells in the blood that promote thrombosis to be activated. These antibodies bind to the surface of cells via a protein called beta2-glycoprotein 1.
“My planned research will focus on two key areas: to understand how these antibodies when binding to beta-2-glycoprotein 1 then go on to activate cells that line blood vessels, and to produce proteins that can block these antibodies – which could potentially be used therapeutically,” added Dr Ioannou.
