Identifying novel cartilage proteins with new functions

• 
  Project Leader
  Professor Amanda Fosang

  amanda.fosang@mcri.edu.au

Project Details

We have discovered that cells from mouse joint tissues respond to inflammatory agents by increasing their expression of the vanin-3 (vnn3) gene. Although little is known about vnn3, the related protein vanin-1 is involved in the body’s response to infection, inflammation and tissue damage. We propose that vnn3 will also be important in the response to disease. This project aims to identify the role(s) of vnn3 in modulating cartilage pathology in experimental arthritis and to explore the link between vnn3, arthritis and metabolic disease. We have made mice deficient in vnn3 and we are using these mice to define the in vivo role of vnn3 in modulating cartilage erosion in experimental arthritis and the possible links with metabolic disease.

Researchers

• Ms Suzanne Golub, Research Assistant
• Ms Karena Last, Research Assistant
• Ms Jia-Xi Han, Research Assistant
• Ms Lynette Ong, PhD Student
• Dr Heather Stanton, Research Officer/Administrator

Collaborators

• Professor Hideaki Nagase, Kazuhiro Yamamoto & Dr Linda Troeberg, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Oxford, UK
• Dr Anne-Marie Malfait & Dr Rachel Miller, Rush University, Chicago, USA
• Prof Alan Grodzinsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA
• Prof Virginia Kraus, Duke University, USA
• Prof Anders Aspberg, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Prof Frank Beier, University of Western Ontario, Canada
• Dr Paul Holden, Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon, USA
• Prof Danny Chan, University of Hong Kong, China
• A/Prof Philip Sutton, MCRI
• Prof John Bateman, MCRI
• A/Prof Shireen Lamande, MCRI
• Dr Marc Seal, Royal Children’s Hospital
• Prof David Jackson, University of Melbourne
• Prof Eleanor Mackie, University of Melbourne
• A/Prof Natalie Sims, St Vincent’s Institute, Melbourne
• Prof Chris Little, University of Sydney, NSW

Funding

• USA Department of Defense
• National Health & Medical Research Council  
• Australian Research Council