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Asked by Liam to John, Laura, Luke, Rob, Ruth on 15 Jun 2016.
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Ruth Patchett answered on 15 Jun 2016:
Yes I think so. As I am guessing you know Raynaud’s affects the blood supply to some parts of the body like your fingers fingers-especially on a cold day. I think the main issue is having meication that will help the blood flow there but not have underired effects on other part of the body, so a targetted treatment. This is important for a lot of different diseases so a lot of different ways of gettign drugs into your body are being researched. I went to a great talk about some scientists who want to use UV light to make sure drugs only work where you want them to in your body. That would be pretty cool. (http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/11November/Pages/light-activated-drugs-to-target-cancer.aspx)
A doctor would probably know about this better than me though 🙂
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Luke Williams answered on 16 Jun 2016:
Had to look up Reynaud’s – wow.
I should think a treatment would be possible, but it would depend on getting to the bottom of why the spasms in the capillaries happen. Nifedipine is apparently the only treatment currently available, which is a calcium channel blocker. Judging from the other treatment available (surgery to cut nerves) it seems that the aim of the medicine is to reduce the activity or sensitivity of the nerves.
In order to find a treatment I think you would have to figure out the reason for the overactive nerves in the first place. I don’t know how you would go about doing that, because its not my area. My best guess though is that as it is so common that the issue is a side-effect of another advantage, otherwise it wouldn’t be nearly as common I don’t think.
Given that it is hereditary, that also provides some hope, as with the introduction of personalised medicine, it may be possible to look at the DNA of a variety of Raynaud’s sufferers and see if there are any particular genes that may be key to this particular issue. Once identified then perhaps a more specific medication can be developed. That would be an effective treatment, but not exactly a cure. I suspect that if a faulty gene is responsible then it may be necessary for something like genetic engineering to provide a new copy of the relevant gene, which may solve the issue once and for all, although perhaps with side effects still.
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John Fossey answered on 16 Jun 2016:
To my knowledge the genetic basis is not well understood. Drugs like vasodilators can sometimes help manage it, ie treat the symptoms, but that is not a cure. If there was an identified target a drug could be developed, so my feeling is understanding the genetic basis is where the most hope lies.
Comments
Liam commented on :
That’s very interesting. Do you think that people will have to take different doses depending on how bad theirs are or will it be the same?
Ruth commented on :
I am not sure I think it would depend on what way the drug works. I think most people with mild Raynaud’s would probably want to avoid taking drugs to treat it and probably try to stay warm or use anti stress exercises where possible to avoid side effects of a drug. When it comes to doses though that would be at a late stage development of a drug so I wouldn’t know how that would be dealt with. With any drug it takes a long time to get from lab development to human trials.