Joint Tissue Remodelling in Musculoskeletal Disease - Version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Biological Studies of the Mechanisms of Joint Tissue Remodelling in Musculoskeletal Health and Disease
IRAS ID
191847
Contact name
Andrew Rowan
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
BH110415 , Finance BH Number
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, months, days
Research summary
More than 8 million people in the UK have long-term health problems due to arthritis and related conditions with a significant impact on quality of life and associated economic impact. This research will allow us to identify the specific biological pathways and molecules critical for maintaining healthy joint tissues as we age. It will allow us to understand further the genetic and environmental factors affecting those changes in joint tissues (joint remodelling events) giving rise to arthritis and related diseases. Patients will be consented to donate tissue including bone, cartilage, blood and synovial fluid for research purposes. Patients will be consented by the surgeon or a research nurse prior to surgery. Anonymized tissue samples will be transferred by existing systems to Newcastle University for full analysis by the laboratory research team. We will use these waste tissues to answer our key research objective which is to identify specific biological pathways or molecules that are critical for maintaining healthy joint tissues as we age. The tissue will also enable us to address our secondary objectives which are to:
● identify specific molecules that are critical for maintaining healthy immune surveillance of our joints and joint replacements as we age
● identify key risk factors for arthritis initiation and progression
● identify new therapeutic targets for downstream validation studies
● identify new biomaterials to improve the biology of implants
Other research questions may arise from initial experimentation. For example, if specific genes are detected in certain diseases, we will investigate if their activity is related to disease severity.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NE/0006
Date of REC Opinion
2 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion