Sept. 24, 1999
Contact: Teressa Tignor Gilbreth
Information Specialist
(573) 882-9144
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MU RESEARCHERS SEARCH FOR CAUSES AND POSSIBLE CURES FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS WITH $1.1 MILLION NIH GRANT
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- There is new hope for the 2.1 million people in the United States who suffer from the painful, chronic disease of the joints, rheumatoid arthritis. With the help of a five-year $1.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, two researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine are searching for the causes of and possible cures for the crippling disease.
Bimal Ray, an associate professor of veterinary pathobiology; and his co-investigator and wife, Alpana Ray, an assistant research professor; have been working for 10 years on research related to serum amyloid A (SAA), the protein they believe is a key trigger for rheumatoid arthritis and a host of other diseases.
Rheumatoid arthritis inflames and thickens the tissues that line the joints, most commonly the small joints of the hands, causing pain and swelling. Researchers had given up hope for a cure for the disease until recent discoveries in cellular biology and immunology brought new hope.
With clues from their current study, the Rays hope to identify the process that causes rheumatoid arthritis, design pharmaceutical treatments to stop it and investigate possible connections to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis and other diseases.
"We've found the link between these diseases, and now we're trying to identify it and prove it is true," Alpana Ray said.
"Identifying the mechanism of the inflammation is our focus on this study," Bimal Ray said. Although they are using animal tissue culture cells and gene cloning to study inflammation, he said the research is geared toward human disease.
Current treatment strategies for rheumatoid arthritis include pain relief through medication, rest and exercise, patient education, support programs and in some cases surgery. One possible avenue of the new research is to control the disease process by simply limiting SAA production and its related actions in the joints.
If initial research proves successful, they could begin testing an experimental treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in five to 10 years, Bimal Ray said.
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