Mononuclear phagocyte function / trafficking in psoriatic arthritis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the functional properties and trafficking of mononuclear phagocytes in psoriatic arthritis.
IRAS ID
271612
Contact name
Naomi McGovern
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes red scaly patches on skin and affects 1/50 in the UK. Of these, 1/3 develop psoriatic arthritis. This causes joints to swell and become painful; limiting independence, causing joint damage, and other health problems. It is hard to predict which people with psoriasis will get arthritis and this condition is expensive to treat. In psoriatic arthritis, the immune system that normally fights infection damages the joint tissues. Immune cells called mononuclear phagocytes are responsible for coordinating the immune response and are thought to be important in psoriatic arthritis.
This research aims to understand the role of these mononuclear phagocytes in psoriatic arthritis. This will be determined by collecting blood and the inflamed tissue and fluid that surrounds joints from patients with psoriatic arthritis. We have developed a novel panel that allows us to simultaneously identify the immune cells in these places and the factors on these cells that influence their movement. This will be compared to the number and profile of cells in healthy people. This will permit identification of which cell types are playing a major role in psoriatic arthritis as well as what factors affect their movement from bloodstream to joint.
Knowing what cells are in the joints and how they are behaving is important to understand their role in joint swelling, pain, and damage. This should lead to benefits to patients in multiple ways including identifying those likely to develop arthritis so they can be treated early. It may also allow new drugs to be developed to specifically target what goes wrong in psoriatic arthritis so that treatments work better and side effects are reduced. In addition, these findings may help to understand other diseases where these mononuclear phagocytes are important such as atherosclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EE/0316
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion