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Chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatism and arthritis
affects up to 1 in 10 people with about 80% of the over-75s
having their quality of life reduced by the pain and disability
of these conditions. The main focus of research in this area
is to find new and better anti-inflammatory medicines without
the side effects of current treatments.
Inflammation is a normal response of the body to combat
infection and the invasion of pathogens such as bacteria.
It plays an important role in the body’s armoury of
defences. The existence of inflammation was recognised by
the Egyptians. The roman physician Celsus defined the inflammatory
symptoms that we still observe and try to control these days
(rubor, or redness; humor, or swelling; calor, or fever, and
dolor, or pain).
Our modern day understanding of the inflammatory response
is much more detailed. However, frequently inflammatory diseases
involve an autoimmune element where antibodies generated against
the body’s own tissues act as trigger for inflammation.
Once an inflammatory reaction starts it can become difficult
to control and often leads to destructive damage, for instance
to joints in rheumatoid arthritis, or to the nervous system
in multiple sclerosis.
Traditional approaches to treating inflammation focus on
preventing the key steps in the inflammatory response. However,
over recent years it has become clear that this approach does
not work in chronic inflammatory disease. Also many of the
medicines used in this way have side effects particularly
when used continually over many years.
In recent years clinical and experimental investigators
have recognised that inflammation is a protective process
that is self-limiting and in most conditions resolves naturally
as part of the healing process. This healing process is known
as the resolution phase of the inflammatory response.
The William Harvey Research Foundation is funding
research to identify the natural cellular and molecular mechanisms
that limit the severity of the inflammatory response and control
the resolution phase. This research has already provided significant
new insights. Further funding will help us support research
to discover new ways to treat many debilitating inflammatory
diseases.
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