Novel Glycoproteomic based diagnostic technology for identifying cartilage tissue turnover and repair.

骨关节炎是一种长期的使人衰弱的疾病，它会导致关节软骨的丧失，从而导致疼痛和残疾。这是老龄化社会的一个主要问题和成本，但人们对关节退化的机制仍然知之甚少。该项目将研究关节细胞产生的蛋白聚糖和蛋白聚糖片段，详细描述其糖成分的结构，并绘制与抗体相互作用的区域。了解这些蛋白多糖片段将有助于我们确定它们在疾病进展中的作用，并且这些知识的应用将有助于骨关节炎早期诊断的发展。

Osteoarthritis is a long-term debilitating disease, which results in the loss of cartilage in the joints, leading to pain and disability. This is a major problem and cost in ageing societies, yet the mechanisms of joint deterioration are still poorly understood. This project will investigate proteoglycans and proteoglycan fragments produced by cells of the joint, detailing the structure of their sugar components, and map which regions are interacting with antibodies. Understanding these proteoglycan fragments will help us to determine their role in disease progression, and application of this knowledge will assist in the development of an early diagnostic for osteoarthritis.