Professor Chris Little and Dr Cindy Shu
Bad knees might cause broken hearts Exciting research is set to get underway
that there might be a biological connection where the joint disease might actually be causing heart disease. “Our team found that if we induced osteoarthritis in one knee of a mouse that was otherwise fit, young and healthy, within 16 weeks that mouse had evidence of heart disease.” The new research project funded through the NHMRC will now investigate which specific factors are contributing to the development of heart disease. “If we can define what factors are the most important, we may be able to help develop a new diagnostic tool for heart disease and potentially stop osteoarthritis contributing to cardiovascular disease,” Professor Little said. “Our research could lead to both a diagnostic test as well as a therapeutic target. It could change the health advice around risk factors for heart disease. “Our grant success highlights the breadth of expertise we have at the Kolling and the impact of collaboration, where we have researchers specialising in different fields coming together to identify new avenues to research. “It’s certainly one of the great things about working in the Kolling.”
investigating a ground-breaking approach to reduce osteoarthritis associated heart disease. Kolling Institute researcher Professor Chris Little will lead the project after receiving a highly competitive National Health and Medical Research Council Ideas grant of close to a million dollars. Chris Little and Dr Cindy Shu from the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Lab will collaborate on the novel study with Kolling heart disease researcher Dr Anastasia Mihailidou and Professor Anthony Ashton from the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research in the USA. Chris has welcomed the significant funding, saying it followed years of specialised work in this field. “We’re very excited about this research and we’re hopeful it may make a big difference,” he said. “We have known about the link between osteoarthritis and heart disease for many years, with those experiencing osteoarthritis twice as likely to develop heart disease as those without the painful joint condition. “We had thought the conditions were linked because they shared the same risk factors like age, obesity and a lack of exercise, but our recent research has showed for the first time,
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