Analysis of new targets for Ankylosing Spondylitis therapy.

Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a painful chronic disease of the bones in the spine where fusion of these joints can eventually occur. There is no cure at present, just pain relief or drugs that generally dampen the immune system. Current evidence indicates that AS starts when a protein of the immune system called HLA-B27 mis-folds inside immune cells, causing them to initiate inflammation. How cells deal with mis-folded HLA-B27 is therefore a target for new drugs, to reduce the inflammation. This project will use new experimental drugs that are known to influence how cells deal with misfolded proteins to study their impact on HLA-B27, with the hope of gaining knowledge to use in future clinical trials.