More than 50 million adults and 300,000 children in the United States suffer (.pdf) from arthritis. There's no known cure for the disease, which breaks down the cartilage in the joints and can be disruptive to daily life causing pain, stiffness and loss of mobility.
A new partnership between Stanford and University of California-San Francisco, called the Northern California Arthritis Foundation Center of Excellence, hopes to bring much needed relief to patients by accelerating advancements in arthritis research. As explained in a recent piece in Stanford Medicine Benefactor:
More than 20 clinical and basic science investigators are involved in the center. They will meet regularly to exchange ideas and share progress on collaborative investigations that build on existing strengths in immunology, bone biology, vascular biology, and rheumatology. Their studies are aimed at shedding new light on how the disease develops in order to identify remedies that can impact the disease's progress, regenerate cartilage in damaged joints to significantly reduce the signs of arthritis, and lessen the pain and disability it causes.
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A major objective of the center is to develop targeted therapeutics that treat these diseases without incurring serious adverse side effects. Research collaborations are also focused on identifying biomarkers that can allow physicians to predict how an individual will respond to treatment and which therapies will provide the best result—a big step toward personalized medicine.
The center was established by a grant from The Arthritis Foundation.
Previously: Repairing cartilage with light-activated hydrogel, New drugs for systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis raise hope and questions, A closer look at rheumatoid arthritis/obesity link and New thinking about osteoarthritis, older people’s nemesis
Photo by Wellcome Images
