Grant: Operating Grant

Arthritis is a debilitating disorder affecting one in ten Canadians. In this disease inflammation and damage to the joints cause pain. Arthritis is poorly managed in most patients because adequate treatments are lacking. The therapies that do exist to help to treat arthritis pain often cause serious side effects and cannot be used long-term. Any hope for the development of more effective treatments for arthritis relies on understanding the processes driving this condition. To this end, we use animal models of arthritis to investigate the changes in the nerves and tissues around the arthritic joints that drive pain. We have focused our research on a molecule called nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein that promotes the growth and survival of nerves, but also causes pain. The levels of NGF are increased in patients with arthritis and recent clinical trials have demonstrated that agents that block NGF reduce pain. Unfortunately due to unforeseen side effects, these clinical trials have been stopped. We propose an alternative method to reduce the levels of NGF. The funding from this grant will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of this novel approach at reducing pain in animal models of arthritis. We will explore the ways in which our method to reduce NGF may be working to decrease pain. Finally, we will compare our approach with the one that was in clinical trials to determine its advantages. Our hope is that this research will help develop more effective therapies to treat arthritis pain.