Study at Hexham General to help fight arthritis

The samples will go towards a study called arcOGEN which will compare 8,000 people suffering from osteoarthritis with 6,000 healthy people.

The three-and-a-half-year project, based at Newcastle University, is funded by a grant of £2.2m by the Arthritis Research Campaign.

It aims to identify genetic changes known as polymorphisms which increase the
risk of people developing osteo- arthritis.

Researchers hope that the study could lead to the development of genetic tests which could predict who is likely to get the disease, particularly those who will get it at an early stage.

Professor John Loughlin, pictured, arcOGEN's principal investigator based at Newcastle University said: "Genetic factors play a major role in the development of osteoarthritis and identifying them will help us to understand why the disease occurs and will assist in the development of new treatments by identifying new molecular targets.

"We have brought together all the major osteoarthritis genetics research groups within the UK and experts in human genetics to enable us to perform the definitive search of the human genome for osteoarthritis genetic risk factors."

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, affecting more than two million older people in the UK, causing pain and stiffness as the cartilage at the ends of bones wears away.

It can affect any joints but involvement of the knee and hip is the number one cause of mobility problems in the elderly population.

Despite its high prevalence there is no effective drug treatment to control the progression of osteoarthritis, and currently available painkillers carry a high risk of side effects.

It is known that there is a genetic component to osteoarthritis, as those who have a relative with the condition are two to three times more likely to develop the disease.

But factors such as obesity, sports injuries and heavy manual work can also affect people's susceptibility.

The research team hope to find between 10 and 20 of the genes that could have a strong to moderate risk for osteoarthritis, although there may be many more.