ENDOGENOUS PAIN RELIEF IN HEALTHY AND OSTEOARTHRITIC PATIENTS
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$509,926.00
Summary
Pain has a detrimental impact on ones quality of life and a significant financial impact on the community. Given this, there is a substantial effort aimed at developing pain relieving compounds. One way in which our own brain can provide complete pain relief is via a mechanism called diffuse noxious inhibitory control. We currently do not know how this mechanism works and the aim of this investigation is to explore this mechanism in healthy and osteoarthritis patients use human brain imaging.
Does Low Dose Amitriptyline Reduce Pain In Knee Osteoarthritis? A Double Blind, Randomised, Pragmatic, Placebo Controlled Clinical Trial Of Amitriptyline In Addition To Usual Care
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$413,704.00
Summary
Pain is the main problem for people with osteoarthritis, a common form of arthritis. This pain is not controlled well. Pain comes from structural changes in the joint. However, after time, some people develop pain due to changes in the nervous system, called pain sensitisation. This is not affected by usual treatments. Amitriptyline is used to treat pain sensitisation. This study is a randomised trial to see whether amitriptyline, relieves pain in people with knee osteoarthritis over 3 months.
Arthritis of the big toe joint is a common and disabling problem in many Australians, but few effective treatments are available. This project will determine whether a combination of exercises and wearing a special shoe with a curved sole (a rocker-sole shoe) is more effective in treating this condition than exercises alone.
Signalling Through A Bioactive Aggrecan Fragment: What Is The Mechanism?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$431,347.00
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) affects approximately 20% of Australians. There are no therapies that modify the course of the disease and joint replacement surgery is expensive and invasive. We have discovered that a peptide product of cartilage breakdown (the 32mer) signals cartilage cells to mount an inflammatory and catabolic response. We will determine how the 32mer triggers this response, whether other joint cells are similarly activated and how it can be stopped, with the goal of pursuing new targets ....Osteoarthritis (OA) affects approximately 20% of Australians. There are no therapies that modify the course of the disease and joint replacement surgery is expensive and invasive. We have discovered that a peptide product of cartilage breakdown (the 32mer) signals cartilage cells to mount an inflammatory and catabolic response. We will determine how the 32mer triggers this response, whether other joint cells are similarly activated and how it can be stopped, with the goal of pursuing new targets for therapyRead moreRead less
Web Based Study Of Risk Factors For Pain Exacerbation In Knee Osteoarthritis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,501.00
Summary
While much is known about the risk factors for radiographic knee OA, the risk factors for symptoms emanating from joints affected by OA remain unclear. Identifying modifiable methods for alleviating pain and or avoiding risk factors for exacerbations of pain could have tremendous public health importance. In the proposed study we will use the Internet to facilitate data collection to test a set of risk factors for knee pain fluctuation among subjects with symptomatic radiographic knee OA.
METHODS - A Randomised Controlled Trial Of METhotrexate To Treat Hand Osteoarthritis With Synovitis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$770,014.00
Summary
Hand osteoarthritis (OA) is common, but has no treatment. Almost 50% of people with hand OA will have joint swelling (synovitis). The hand joint of people with synovitis are 3.5 times more likely to experience joint destruction within as little as 2 years. Drugs used to treat synovitis may reduce pain and joint destruction. We propose that treating patients with symptomatic hand OA and synovitis with the anti-synovitis drug, methotrexate, will be a major medical advance.
The Role Of Endogenous Glucocorticoids In The Pathogenesis Of Osteoarthritis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$587,697.00
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease and a leading cause of disability. Recently, we found that the development of experimental OA in mice can be slowed if the effects of the body’s own (=endogenous) glucocorticoids were blocked locally. This project will determine how endogenous glucocorticoids accelerate the development of OA. We will further test whether treatment with drugs that block the actions of endogenous glucocorticoids can slow or prevent the development of OA.
Osteoarthritis (OA) affects approximately 20% of Australians and costs billions each year in joint replacements. Therapies that halt joint destruction in OA are urgently needed. We hypothesise that the little-known gene, vanin -3, is a key regulator of OA disease pathways. Our project will map vanin-3 in the joint and reveal how much vanin-3 contributes to joint destruction in mice. We expect to find a link between vanin-3 and metabolic disorders and identify new targets for therapy.
Bridging The Gap Between Cartilage Biology And Osteoarthritis Risk Prediction
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$512,256.00
Summary
Osteoarthritis is a painful and debilitating cartilage disease affecting just under 1 in 10 Australians and costs the Australian economy roughly $12 billion per year. This project will develop computational models of cartilage with the ability to incorporate genetic and environmental risk factors into a predictive model of cartilage disease.
Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is a common cause of hip pain characterised by extra bone formation at the hip, called a cam-deformity. FAI is thought to create hip joint damage and osteoarthritis. Our 5 year longitudinal study of people with FAI in two (Melbourne and Brisbane) sites will investigate whether factors (such as cam-deformity size, hip contact force, muscle strength and joint range) can predict hip joint damage (measured with magnetic resonance imaging) over two years.