University of Glasgow researchers will join a new £50 million research centre seeking to move treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases beyond lifelong management towards lasting remission and cures. The centre will be funded over 14 years and led by investigators from across the UK and Japan.
The UKRI Medical Research Council Centre for Research Excellence in Restorative Immunology will bring together experts from eight universities alongside charities, public engagement organisations, industry and biotechnology. Scientists, doctors and patient research partners will work together to improve understanding and treatment of immune-mediated diseases.
Glasgow’s team will contribute expertise in chronic inflammatory conditions, particularly joint and gut diseases. It will also provide experimental models and help train the next generation of scientists.
Conditions covered by the research include arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune liver disease and Sjögren’s disease. They arise when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue, with inflammation capable of causing irreversible damage, chronic pain and lifelong disability.
Despite advances in treatment, many patients still need lifelong therapy to control inflammation and prevent further damage. This includes people whose disease begins in childhood, with consequences for their health, independence and quality of life.
Professor Iain McInnes, vice-principal and head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to change the outlook for people living with chronic inflammatory diseases. We have made enormous progress in our ability to control inflammation, but our ambition must now be greater: to understand these diseases at their roots and ultimately move from lifelong management towards lasting remission and cure.”
Professor Adam P Croft, Arthritis UK chair of rheumatology and director of the centre, said: “New technologies now allow us to study diseased tissues at unprecedented resolution, revealing how healthy tissue becomes diseased and identifying the cells and molecular pathways that drive this process. Combined with the development of therapies capable of precisely targeting these cells and pathways, this creates a realistic opportunity to move beyond lifelong disease control towards treatments delivered with curative intent – with the ultimate goal of restoring long-term health and wellbeing.”
