Chronic inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune liver disease and Sjögren’s disease, currently require lifelong management but, with further investment in research investigating the cause of these diseases, it is possible that curative treatments could be found.
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust researchers will join a team of leading scientists, doctors and patient research partners as part of the new £50m UKRI Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) for Restorative Immunology, funded over the next 14 years and led by a team of investigators from across the UK and Japan.
The MRC CoRE aims to transform the lives of people facing debilitating immune-mediated diseases which, as well as being a major burden on affected individuals, have considerable impact on health services and the wider economy.
These conditions arise when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues, including the joints, gut, skin, eyes, liver and salivary glands, among many others. The resulting inflammation can cause irreversible tissue and organ damage, chronic pain and lifelong disability.
Despite major advances in treatment, many people, including those whose disease begins in childhood, require lifelong therapy to control inflammation and prevent further damage. The impact can be profound, affecting health, independence and quality of life.
The team will bring together experts from eight universities, charities, public engagement organisations, industry and biotechnology, combining different skills and perspectives to improve the lives of patients and train the next generation of researchers.
Professor Athimalaipet Ramanan, Consultant Paediatric Rheumatologist at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, is leading the programme at Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. Prof Ramanan is co-leading the knowledge exchange and industry partnership working group. He said:
"Having worked closely with industry partners to enable innovative adaptive trial designs for new molecules in rare diseases, I am committed to strengthening these collaborations to accelerate the translation of novel therapies from bench to bedside.
“By working together, we can ensure that promising treatments reach children and adults living with autoimmune diseases as quickly as possible, delivering the greatest impact for patients and their families."
Professor Adam P Croft, Arthritis UK Chair of Rheumatology and Director of the MRC CoRE in Restorative Immunology explains:
“While remarkable advances have been made in the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases over the past two decades, the focus has largely been on controlling inflammation to relieve symptoms and prevent damage to tissues.
"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.”
Dr Ceri Williams, Executive Director of Challenge Led Portfolio at MRC, said:
“MRC Centres of Research Excellence are designed to tackle some of the most important challenges in biomedical research through sustained, ambitious and collaborative science. By doing so, they contribute to UKRI’s mission to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive growth across the UK.
“The MRC CoRE for Restorative Immunology exemplifies that vision. Moving beyond treating symptoms to achieve lasting remission or cure will require a deeper understanding of how healthy tissues become disrupted and how those processes can be reversed.
"By bringing together expertise from across disciplines, sectors and countries to tackle these fundamental questions, this centre has the potential to transform our understanding of inflammatory disease and accelerate the development of treatments that deliver lasting benefits for patients.”