For people living with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, effective treatment can control inflammation and prevent damage. But treatment may be needed for many years or throughout life, and can bring challenges of its own.
As the MRC Centre of Research Excellence in Restorative Immunology prepares to begin its work, Caitlin’s experience of living with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) provides an important reminder of why new approaches are needed.
Living with inflammatory disease
Caitlin was diagnosed with JIA at the age of 11, after first developing symptoms two years earlier. Over the following years, the condition affected her joints and was accompanied by psoriasis.
Her treatment included steroids and medicines that suppress the immune system. While these treatments were needed to control her disease, Caitlin experienced side effects including fatigue and nausea, as well as increased susceptibility to infection.
The impact extended beyond her physical health. JIA affected her education, hobbies, emotional wellbeing and everyday life.
Caitlin is now 27 and her current treatment has controlled her arthritis for several years. However, treatment remains part of her life and, like many people living with immune-mediated inflammatory disease, she continues to experience some of the consequences of both the condition and its treatment.
Today, Caitlin is also contributing to research herself. She is undertaking a PhD at the University of Birmingham, investigating predictors of depression and related behaviours in young people with JIA.
Read Caitlin’s full story on the MRC/UKRI website
From controlling disease to restoring health
Experiences such as Caitlin’s underpin the ambition of the MRC Centre of Research Excellence in Restorative Immunology.
Current treatments can be highly effective at controlling inflammatory disease. The Centre aims to go further: to understand why inflammation fails to resolve and develop new approaches that restore healthy immune function and repair affected tissues.
The ultimate aim is to develop approaches capable of achieving sustained, drug-free remission.
As Professor Adam Croft, Director of the Centre, said at the launch:
“Our patients and their families are clear, they want more than lifelong treatment, they want the possibility of a cure.”
Watch: introducing restorative immunology
Narrated by Caitlin, this animation explores what it is like to live with an immune-mediated inflammatory condition and introduces the challenge the Centre has been established to address.