The Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF) has funded 175 scientists since its inception.  In this section, you will learn about some of the earlier and recent studies we have funded and the research success that resulted from their efforts.

• For over 40 years, ANRF has supported brilliant young Ph.D. and M.D. investigators to promote and develop their new research discoveries, encouraging them to continue in medical research.

• Result: 95% of the scientists who received an ANRF grant continue to work in medical research. Moreover, they have received long term support from national funding agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, for their programs.  ANRF fellows have made important breakthrough discoveries, established their own laboratories and become distinguished leaders in their fields at universities and research institutes nationwide.

To view a specific type of research please select from the options below; otherwise, continue reading to read about research the Arthritis National Research Foundation has funded:

Early Research Funded (1970-1999)

• ANRF funded research into the role of the immune system in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus.

• Result: The research of early ANRF grant recipients led to a better understanding that Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an “autoimmune disease” in which tissue destruction is due to the immune system attacking the patient’s own tissues.  They revealed some of the genetic susceptibility to autoimmune diseases, as well as the mechanisms of how tissue destruction occurs. These findings led scientists to develop “immune-suppressive” therapies for RA and other autoimmune diseases still prescribed by doctors today.

• ANRF funded very important research that revealed the first evidence that cells of the immune system (white blood cells) can release hormone-like substances termed “cytokines” and these studies specifically identified lymphotoxins (LT) and tumor necrosis factors (TNF). Later important studies identified and characterized a natural inhibitor that specifically blocked LT/TNF activity.

• Result: These early ANRF supported studies led the way to the development of an entirely new class of drugs termed “biologics” for treatment of RA and other autoimmune diseases.  These findings led to clinical trials that demonstrated the LT/TNF inhibitor alleviated symptoms in some RA patients.  One such natural inhibitor, or anti-TNF biologic drug, known as etanercept or Enbrel, is now used to treat patients with RA and other autoimmune diseases. In addition, these findings led to the search for additional cytokines, which will open the door for new therapies.

These two scientists were funded by ANRF during this early period and their work was so revolutionary that the subsequent studies that resulted are still underway today.

Gale A. “Morrie” Granger, Ph.D., Professor of Immunology at University of California, Irvine, discovered lymphotoxins (LT) also called tumor necrosis factors (TNF).  His work and the later work characterizing the TNF receptor done by Tetsuya Gatanaga, Ph.D. were funded by ANRF.  Both of these discoveries contributed directly to the development of biologic therapies, such as Enbrel, for RA and other autoimmune diseases.

Betty Tsao, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at UCLA, was the first scientist to link a specific human chromosome region to increased risk of developing lupus, a debilitating autoimmune disease.  This genetic link is the focus of the current research in lupus and may enable early detection and possibly prevention of this often deadly disease. Click here to view what Dr. Tsao is doing now.

The Arthritis National Research Foundation has funded 175 young research scientists, many of whom have made breakthrough discoveries and have become giants in the field of arthritis and immunological research.  Click below to view a partial list of some early ANRF grant recipients at their present location:

Arthritis Research Today

Rheumatoid Arthritis Research

Rheumatoid arthritis is a complex disease in which the patient’s immune system attacks its own tissue causing swelling and inflammation in the joints and damage of tissues and other organs. The immune mechanisms involved are shared with some other autoimmune diseases that attack different organs, such as lupus (kidneys), multiple sclerosis (brain) and Type I diabetes (pancreas). Often autoimmune diseases have a start and halt progression, with periods of active disease followed by periods of remission. Thus, the immune system is the focus of research in these diseases. ANRF funds research to help us understand both the normal and abnormal immune system.

The human immune response consists of three different phases:

1. Initiation phase – recognition of the foreign or self materials
2. Expansion phase – increase in the number of immune cells and antibodies
3. Invasion and Tissue Destructive phase - emigration of cells and antibodies into the blood stream and into the target organs to induce inflammation and tissue destruction

Recent research indicates that cytokines are involved in each of three phases of immune response.  This is a very important and exciting new area of research that may explain how the immune system functions in both health and disease.  Current ANRF grant recipients employ innovative approaches and modern technologies to identify, isolate and study the different phases of the immune response at the cell and molecular levels.

Studies below, funded by ANRF, are broken out by the specific phase of the immune response as described above:

These studies seek to understand and perhaps stop the immune response at its inception.

• Thomas Morrison, PhD at University of Colorado, Denver is studying the mechanism of how viruses can cause arthritis
• Result: These studies can result in methods to inhibit the infection and block the products that induce arthritis

• Joyce Wu, PhD, now established in her own laboratory at the University of Arizona, is studying the role of a specific strain of intestinal bacteria that can activate regulatory cells of the immune system and induce the onset of RA in animals
• Result: The possible role of intestinal bacteria to induce RA is a very important finding and could lead to new methods of prevention and treatments.

• Elaine Lourenco, PhD at UCLA is conducting research on the regulatory cells that permit the immune system to identify a patient’s own tissues as “foreign” and begin the expansion and attack processes.
• Result: If these initial cells can be controlled, removed or blocked, the process of auto immunity may be prevented from starting.

Once the initial immune cells identify the patient’s own tissues as “foreign”, they undergo a period of rapid cell division, or “expansion.”  Recent research has identified that specific cells and multiple cytokines may be involved in this complex process.

• Sujata Sarkar, MD at University of Arizona is studying what induces and maintains the  regulatory cells that control the expansive phase
• Result: Control of these cells would be “switch off” to stop and control the immune response, preventing the “start and halt” cycle of inflammation and damage ongoing in these diseases.

• Candace Cham, PhD at Stanford has found a cytokine released by regulatory cells stimulates this phase and is developing methods to block its action.
• Result: A material that blocks this cytokine could stop the “start and halt” cycle of inflammation and damage ongoing in these diseases.

• Richard Di Paolo, PhD at Saint Louis University in Missouri is using an animal model to transplant normal immune cells which stop this phase and block the onset of RA. He is also attempting to employ theses transplants to inhibit the ongoing disease.
• Result: These studies provide new insight to the mechanisms of how the regulatory cells function and may allow control of these important cells to stop the onset of the disease.

Invasion and Tissue Destructive Phase

In this third phase of the immune response, investigation into processes that cause tissue damage is directed at alleviating symptoms and stopping damage from progressing.

• Chuanju Liu, PhD at New York University has identified an important growth factor that promotes tissue healing and also blocks TNF activity.
• Result: This factor holds great promise for further development as a new candidate for clinical testing. It would be very beneficial in that it could both halt disease and promote healing.

• Sougata Karmakar, PhD at University of Massachusetts, Worchester, has identified cytokine(s) that appear to control the cells that form and destroy bone.
• Result: These cytokines could be very useful in blocking and repairing bone destruction in RA.

• Xueding Wang, PhD, of University of Michigan is developing new, cutting-edge imaging techniques utilizing tomography and lasers to provide images of soft tissues in joints in RA.
• Result: The new imaging technique has proven effective for early detection of RA for earlier treatment, as well as monitoring the delivery of drugs used to treat the disease.

Osteoarthritis Research

There is new research that holds great promise to relieve the pain and loss of function in osteoarthritis (OA), the most prevalent form of arthritis.  OA is due to “wear and tear” on the joint tissues, causing inflammation, but does not involve immune system.  The cartilage, which forms the lubricating surface of the joint, can also be damaged by repeated injury. This can lead to the grinding of bone-on-bone, resulting in pain, tissue and bone damage, limited joint movement and deformities. The ANRF-sponsored studies below are at the forefront in finding causes and new treatments for osteoarthritis.

• Mai Thuy Lam, PhD at Stanford University is conducting studies to replace damaged meniscus tissues in knee joints with adult stem cell transplants.
• Result: Replacement of damaged and worn out tissues with a transplant of the patient’s own stem cells may regenerate normal healthy tissue and restore joint function.

• Quanjun Cui, MD at University of Virginia is studying the use of bone marrow stem cells which produce bone growth factors, utilizing bi-pedal animals that more closely imitate humans.
• Result: These stem cells could be employed to regenerate damaged bone tissues.

• Timothy Griffin, PhD at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City is studying the oxidative mechanisms of how cartilage breaks down in the process of developing OA.
• Result: Understanding this process may lead to development of drugs to promote and maintain healthily cartilage.

• Shigeru Miyaki, PhD at Scripps Research Institute in LA Jolla, CA discovered a natural molecule in the body that regulates the growth of cartilage.
• Result: The findings are exciting and could lead to new methods to repair and replace damaged cartilage in individuals suffering with OA.

Lupus Research

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE or Lupus) is a systemic autoimmune disease that occurs in many organs and is related to RA; that is, the patient’s immune system attacks their own tissues.  Initially, the tissues being attacked are different from RA, but in later stages, the diseases become very similar. Lupus has the same basic immune response stages as RA:  1) induction or cause, 2) expansion of immune cells and antibodies, and 3) invasion and destruction of cells and tissues.

Current lupus research into the role of cytokines and regulatory cells is revealing new approaches for developing therapies.  ANRF-funded lupus projects have spanned 20 years, including that of Betty Tsao, PhD in genetics at UCLA: she is the first scientist to link a specific human chromosome region to increased risk of developing lupus.

Some recently funded ANRF lupus research projects include:

• Courtney Gray-McGuire, PhD at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City has identified that the genes that make patients more susceptible to lupus are producing soluble molecules that appears to be involved in causing lupus.
• Result: This research could lead to development of drugs that block the gene products and prevent getting the disease.

• Zia Rahman, MD, PhD of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is examining the mechanism of how lupus genes and their products induce the immune system to attack self tissues in the mouse.
• Result: These results could lead to the development of drugs which block these steps to stop the disease process.

• Elaine Lourenco, PhD at UCLA is examining the mechanism involved in the finding that regulatory cells that control the immune response in lupus can be controlled by the hormone leptin.
• Result: This study may result in the development of new ways to control the disease involving hormones.

• Christine Grimaldi, PhD at Columbia University in New York has found that estrogen has a role in the 10-fold increase of lupus in females vs. males.  She can cause, in genetically susceptible mice, a Lupus-like disease by estrogen administration and she will continue to pursue the mechanisms involved.
• Result: This could lead to the development of the use of estrogen therapies to control lupus.

Juvenile Arthritis Research

The ANRF has begun a program to fund one-two grants per year in juvenile arthritis. The juvenile arthritis research grant, named The Kelly Award, after ANRF spokersperson and board member Kelly Rouba, was awarded to the scientists below.

• Susannah Brydges, PhD at University of California, San Diego is studying an inherited form of disease that mimics Juvenile Arthritis (JA) in animals.
• Result: Identification of the cause and mechanisms involved in this disease could led to methods to prevent and treat the disease in children

• Altan Ercan, PhD, of Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts (Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital) is studying the role of the modified antibodies found in JA patients in both the cause and tissue destructive phase of the disease.
• Result: This work could lead to better understanding the disease and provide the means to develop new therapies.

The grant recipients listed above represent a very small percentage of those projects funded by ANRF.  If you want more details, including a project summary, of these and all ANRF-funded scientists, please click here.

The Arthritis National Research Foundation has supported outstanding young scientists who are on their way to becoming innovators and leaders in the field of rheumatic disease research, autoimmunity and inflammation. From the discovery of TNF to genes involved in lupus, their research accomplishments have made an impact.  ANRF’s approach is to fund the next generation of researchers to encourage their continued commitment to research in arthritis and related diseases. These scientists, supported by ANRF funds, will lead the scientific charge for a deeper understanding of the genetics and molecular mechanisms of the immune system and autoimmune diseases.  This new understanding, we believe, will provide the scientific facts and key information to develop new therapies that can alleviate the suffering of patients with arthritis and related diseases.