News archive 2008

New discovery offers help to arthritis sufferers

04 Jul 2008, PR 147/08

Scientists at King’s College London have discovered a new and potentially major pain signalling pathway in inflammatory arthritis that may open up new possibilities for pain relief.





ARC press release

Recent research at the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases (CARD), at the Guy’s Campus indicates the existence of a novel pathway in arthritis pain perception that is located in the spinal cord and may be blocked by drug therapy.

Now a new three-year Arthritis Research Campaign grant of £172, 916 has been awarded to the King’s team to pursue this promising line of research.

Dr Marzia Malcangio, Senior Lecturer in Cellular Biology, emphasised the need for new research approaches: 'The chronic pain that accompanies rheumatoid and osteoarthritis requires careful clinical management - effective pain control is difficult to achieve but can dramatically improve the quality of life for arthritis patients,' she explained.

'Although non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and analgesics offer effective pain relief for many people, they are not without side effects, and the withdrawal of the Cox2-selective inhibitors removed an promising alternative pain relief option. Consequently, there is a pressing need for preclinical studies to identify new targets for analgesic therapies in this disease area.'

In joint pain, messages are sent from the inflamed joint via the nervous system to the spinal cord and then up to the higher brain centres that register pain. This research has established that in inflammatory arthritis, specialised cells in the spinal cord, called microglial cells, act as a pain relay centre, receiving input from the peripheral nerves and directing pain messages back to spinal cord neurons on their way up to the brain.

'How the nerve endings convey their pain signals across to the microglial cells is unclear,' said Dr Malcangio. 'We have established a pain relay theory that has already been tested in experimental models.

A molecule known as cathepsin S is released from the spinal cells and stimulates the nerve endings to produce another molecule, called fractalkine, which feeds back on the spinal cells and activates them to signal to the brain. Administering these molecules increases pain perception associated with inflammation, but blocking them prevents pain signalling.'

Further research to establish the detailed role of these molecules in models of inflammatory pain is now ongoing.  Advanced behavioural and molecular biology techniques will be employed using CatS inhibitors and FKN antibodies to test the pain relay model. Determining the underlying molecular mechanisms controlling arthritic pain will lead to improved understanding of the immune component of arthritic pain and help to identify novel targets for analgesic therapies.



Notes to editors

King’s College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has 19,700 students from more than 140 countries, and 5,400 employees. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King’s has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres - more than any other university.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are working together to create the UK's largest Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC). The AHSC will bring together the widest range of clinical and research expertise in the UK – strengths that will be used to drive improvements in care for patients, allowing them to benefit from breakthroughs in medical science and receive leading edge treatment at the earliest possible opportunity.

For further information visit: http://www.londonsahsc.org



Further information
Kate Moore, Public Relations Officer (Health Schools)
Public Relations Department
Email: kate.moore@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 4334



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