Published: 22 Apr 2020 | Last Updated: 24 Apr 2020 15:33:45

A new MRC grant entitled Treatment of osteoarthritis by inhibition of aggrecanases using targeted delivery of engineered TIMP-3 has been awarded.   This Medical Research Council-funded project is a collaboration between Prof. Andrew Pitsillides (RVC), Dr Linda Troeberg (University of East Anglia) and is led by Dr Lisa Mullen, Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

The project seeks to harness the chondroprotective properties of a natural inhibitor of aggrecanases, named TIMP3, to protect against osteoarthritis. It will employ a novel method of delivering a genetically-modified form of TIMP3, which will have greater specificity capable of targeting its activity only to sites of disease, thus eliminating possible side-effects and increasing its therapeutic efficacy.