MRC commits £60m to new research projects
pharmafile | October 7, 2014 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | MRC, NHS, Parkinson's, Parkinsons, UCL, experimental medicine challenge
Three new research programmes that aim to deliver a step-change in the understanding of disease by using human volunteers in experimental studies, have been funded as part of a £60 million investment from the Medical Research Council.
The latest phase of the MRC’s so-called ‘Experimental Medicine Challenge’ will provide new insights into the biological mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease, reduced immunity in the elderly and the way the gut and brain interact to influence addictive behaviour.
By studying these conditions in people, scientists will gain a detailed understanding of how disease takes hold and progresses within the body, according to the Council.
This may help them to identify new opportunities to intervene with medical treatments, and researchers can also use their findings from human studies to work backwards and design better experiments in the lab.
The new life sciences minister George Freeman, says: “Understanding how disease really works in humans is crucial in generating new treatments and medicines. The more we discover about disease the more we know how and why different patients respond in different ways to different diseases and drugs: unlocking a new age of preventative and personalised medicine.
“Through the NHS’s unique strengths as a national healthcare system, with 50 years of disease and drug data, we are leading the world in this exciting field. And attracting billions of investment in new treatments to benefit NHS patients.”
Three projects
The first project will attempt to answer the question: “Why are we more susceptible to infections as we age?”
To answer this, a project led by Professor Arne Akbar at UCL will investigate whether damping down the ‘background’ level of inflammation in older people could help their immune system fight off infections, and improve the effectiveness of vaccines in this population.
In this study, young and old volunteers will be exposed to safe levels of a foreign pathogen so that scientists can study in detail the differences in how the immune system responds as we age. They will then use a drug to block the low-level inflammation that exists in the elderly participants to see if this helps to improve their immune response.
The second project will look at addiction, and Professor David Nutt – alongside Dr Tony Goldstone at Imperial College London – will lead a series of experiments to see whether suppressing the appetite using naturally-occurring gut hormones, could also reduce cravings for addictive substances such as cigarettes and alcohol.
The ultimate aim is to develop new therapies to help people to tackle their addictions, which could have a hugely positive impact upon their health and would reduce significantly the burden that these issues place on society.
Finally, the third project will see if it is possible to slow down the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
This will be led by Professor Anthony Schapira at UCL, who will investigate the role of a genetic mutation in the development and progression of Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s is the second most common form of neurodegeneration after Alzheimer’s, yet there is still a lot we don’t understand about the disease and its causes. Mutations in a gene called GBA increase the risk of developing it by 20-30 times, and are present in around one in 10 Parkinson’s patients.
It is therefore possible that a drug which replaces some of the function of this gene – by boosting activity of an enzyme – could slow progression of the disease in patients with this mutation.
This project will follow 200 patients with the GBA mutation to see how their signs and symptoms can signal biological progression of the disease.
They will also test an existing drug, which was developed originally to treat a different condition (Gaucher disease), on patient cells and in mice to lay the groundwork for human trials of a new therapy for Parkinson’s.
Ben Adams
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