2004 Grants

National Council recently agreed to fund five projects recommended by the Research Committee in September. This brings the total grants awarded over the last 5 years to £658 824.
A brief summary of the 2004 projects:
• Dr. Dorothy Crouch at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee - a grant of £2 380
Distribution and regulation of ERM proteins in psoriasis: a pilot study
My laboratory has an interest in the ERM (Ezrin, Radixin, Moesin) family of proteins. These proteins play a fundamental role in maintaining the normal architecture of and growth of a cell.We proposed that the ERM proteins control skin maturation and growth by a process that is dependent on their specific location within the cell. This has very important implications in skin disorders such as psoriasis. The aim of this project is to find out whether the location and level of the individual ERM family and their associated proteins are aberrant in normal and psoriatic tissue.
• Professor Peter Friedmann, Professor Eugene Healy and Dr. Christodoulides at Southampton General Hospital - a grant of £59 954 over 2 years.
Investigation of interaction between NK T cells and keratinocytes in induction of psoriatic lesions
The processes underlying the formation of psoriasis in human skin appear to involve white blood cells of the immune system (lymphocytes) and cells of the outer layer of skin (epidermis). It is suggested that a particular type of lymphocyte, the NK T cell, somehow cause psoriasis. In this proposal we wish to examine how these NK T cells become activated and how they are able to induce skin cells to develop psoriatic like changes.
It is hoped that the results of this study will explain why people develop psoriasis following streptococcal infections and as a result of injury to the skin and that this new knowledge will lead to better treatments for patients with psoriasis.
• Professor Groves at Imperial College London, Chelsea nd Westminster Hospital - a grant of £59 931
Early transcriptional changes in the development of psoriasis
It is now well established that there is a genetic base to psoriasis. In this project we are aiming to identify genes that are turned on very early in the development if a psoriasis plaque using a technique known as microarray analysis.
We hope to be able to define those genes that are turned on very early in the development of psoriasis, which may prove to be critical in the disease and therefore represent new attractive targets for treatment.
• Dr. Pringle, Dr. Osborne and Dr. Hutchinson at Leicester Royal Infirmary - a grant of £59 856 over two years.
Investigation of vitamin D receptor polymorphis on the response of T cells to vitamin D therapy in psoriasis
This project will investigate why some patients with psoriasis do not respond to topically applied vitamin D creams. We have identified a genetic difference in the vitamin D receptor gene which may influence the immune response in psoriatic plaques.
We will investigate the immune cells in tissue biopsies, blood samples and the molecules that control vitamin D receptor activity. The result of this project could identify an important mechanism of drug resistance which would lead to a pharmacogenetic approach to vitamin D based therapy and allow the appropriate use of vitamin D in psoriasis.
• Dr. Song Han and Dr. Paul Bowden at University of Wales College of Medicine - a grant of £58 928 over two years.
The function of fringe genes in epidermal homeostasis and their role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis
Fruit flies undergo rapid development from eggs to adult flies and this is controlled by 'developmental genes'. Research has shown that these genes are also important in all living organisms, including man, both for development and for maintenance of many adult tissues, for example skin. Abnormalities in these developmental genes can cause disease or give rise to disease susceptibility. In psoriasis, the programme that controls skin maintenance is abnormal and one possibility is that the abnormality resides in one of theses developmental genes od the proteins that are made from them. We propose to study these developmental genes and their protein products in normal and psoriatic skin and see if we can find any changes in the skin of psoriasis patients that might influence the progress of this condition.