OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) — An Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation physician-scientist received a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to study why osteoarthritis develops and progresses differently from person to person.
Matlock Jeffries, M.D., director of OMRF’s Arthritis Research Center, will use blood sample data and medical information from 25,000 veterans through the VA’s Million Veteran Program, one of the world’s largest health and genetics research databases.
The project builds on earlier research that identified long-lasting inflammatory changes in blood cells linked to osteoarthritis progression.
“This gives us access to a much larger and more powerful dataset than we’ve ever had before,” Jeffries said. “We can now test whether the biological patterns we discovered in smaller studies hold up across thousands of OA patients.”
Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, typically results from cartilage deterioration in the knees, hands, hips, or spine. The condition is more prevalent among veterans because of traumatic injuries sustained during training or combat, and veterans often develop the disease at younger ages.
Although osteoarthritis has traditionally been viewed as a wear-and-tear condition, researchers increasingly believe immune-system-related inflammation can influence how joints deteriorate.
Jeffries’ study will examine whether blood-based patterns can help predict who is likely to develop osteoarthritis, whose disease may worsen quickly, and who could eventually need joint replacement surgery. The research also will use computational methods to estimate the types of immune cells present in blood samples and identify immune cell populations linked to disease progression.
Currently, no drugs alter the course of osteoarthritis. Available treatments focus on managing pain and improving joint function.
OMRF Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Judith James, M.D., Ph.D., said the research could help identify new treatment targets.
“This study shows potential to explain the factors behind OA progression,” James said. “If Dr. Jeffries finds one particular immune cell or pathway driving disease, that could become a new therapeutic target.”
The research is funded through VA grant No. IO1BX007116 and will build on previous work supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
