Why do certain rheumatoid arthritis patients display different forms of joint disease?

Disease - Rheumatoid arthritis

Lead applicant - Professor Simon Jones

Organisation - Cardiff University

Type of grant - Programme Grant Full application

Status of grant - Active

Amount of the original award - £892,778.52

Start date - 15 November 2015

Reference - 20770

Public Summary

What are the aims of this research?

The aim of this programme of research is to enhance the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis through an enhanced understanding of the way in which the diversity and severity of joint inflammation in different patients is controlled.

Why is this research important?

Inflammation is the body's response to infection or injury and contributes to the healing process. In rheumatoid arthritis, appropriate control of inflammation is lost promoting joint disease. Importantly, joint inflammation often differs considerably in rheumatoid patients affecting the rate of disease onset, severity and response to therapy. The findings of this research programme aim to account for these clinical differences.

How will the findings benefit patients?

Many patients fail to respond to treatment for rheumatoid arthritis because the choice of therapy is not necessarily appropriate to combat the inflammation driving their disease. Understanding the differing inflammatory processes of disease will help identify particular disease processes that improve prognosis, and help select the most appropriate therapy for a particular individual. Thus, disease progression can be halted, and effective therapy started earlier, reducing the waste of expensive treatments.