Giant cell arteritis: Understanding immune cells in giant cell arteritis
Understanding immune cells in giant cell arteritis
Dr Cecilia Ansalone at the University of Glasgow is studying how two types of immune cell, called B cells and macrophages, keep inflammation going in giant cell arteritis (GCA), a disease that causes swelling in blood vessels. We hope this research will help lead to safer and more effective treatments for people with GCA.
Research overview
Right now, people with giant cell arteritis have few treatment options. Many people take steroid medicines for a long time. Steroids can reduce inflammation, but they can also cause serious side effects, especially for older people.
Through this fellowship, Dr Ansalone wants to understand how immune cells cause inflammation to last a long time and eventually cause tissue damage. This information could help doctors understand which treatment may work best for each person and support the development of new and safer treatments.
"Despite the severity of GCA, we still understand surprisingly little about the mechanisms driving persistent inflammation and relapse. Understanding how chronic and treatment-resistant inflammation persists within tissues remains one of the major unanswered questions across immune-mediated inflammatory diseases."
What is the aim of this research?
This project wants to help us understand why giant cell arteritis is so difficult to treat and why inflammation keeps coming back. Ultimately, Dr Ansalone aims to provide the new information needed to develop new treatments that are more precise and targeted. This means treatments that focus on the parts of the immune system causing harm, instead of affecting the whole body.
These treatments could also reduce the need for long-term steroids, lower the risk of complications and help people stay well for longer.
This could make a real difference for people living with giant cell arteritis and related conditions. It could help reduce flare-ups, prevent damage and improve quality of life.
Why is this research important?
Giant cell arteritis can cause pain and swelling in blood vessels, including blood vessels in the head and neck. If doctors do not treat it quickly, it can lead to serious problems such as sight loss, stroke and long-term disability. Some people also have pain and stiffness in their muscles and joints. This can overlap with conditions such as polymyalgia rheumatica, which causes muscle pain and stiffness, and inflammatory arthritis, which causes painful swelling in the joints.
"By characterising the mechanisms sustaining chronic and treatment-resistant inflammation in GCA, this work may also provide insights relevant to other inflammatory and musculoskeletal diseases where persistent tissue inflammation drives long-term damage and treatment failure."
What are we doing?
In this project, researchers will study tissue and blood samples from people with giant cell arteritis. They will look at what happens when the disease first starts and when it comes back.
Understanding how Giant Cells form in GCA
The team are studying a type of cell called giant cells, sometimes called multinucleated giant cells. These are large cells made when several immune cells join together. The team wants to understand why and how these giant cells form.
Understanding the role of B cells in GCA
The research will look closely at B cells which are immune cells that can make antibodies to help the body recognise threats. Dr Asalone wants to understand how B cells are acting and working in different stages of GCA.
Working out if B cells are important in the formation of Giant Cells
This project then wants to see how B cells may contribute to the formation of giant cells. These experiments will help work out how the interactions between B cells and other immune cells may lead to long term inflammation. They may also help us find ways to stop this inflammation in the future.
Taking our learnings to other conditions
The team will compare what they find in giant cell arteritis with other inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. This could show whether the same immune cell patterns appear in different diseases.
What happens next?
This research will help explain what drives the formation of giant cells and how B cells may help inflammation continue. It could support the use of existing medicines in better ways, reduce the need for long-term steroids and guide the development of new treatments. Because similar immune processes may happen in other autoimmune diseases, this work could also help doctors move towards more personalised care.
"This fellowship will allow me to expand patient-centred research in GCA and continue bridging biology mechanisms with therapeutic discovery"
Meet the team
Dr Cecilia Ansalone – Lead researcher
- Immunology expert at the University of Glasgow
- Studies how immune cells behave in disease
- Focuses on improving treatments for inflammatory conditions.
Key research information
|