Celebrity

Robbie Coltrane ‘confined to wheelchair’ from crippling osteoarthritis

Mar 14, 2019

Robbie Coltrane is now bound to a wheelchair due to debilitating osteoarthritis. Source: Getty

Harry Potter actor Robbie Coltrane is now confined to a wheelchair as he suffers with a severe case of osteoarthritis.

The famous star, who is best known for his role as Hagrid in the movies based on the beloved J.K. Rowling series, can no longer walk due to the crippling pain in his knee, The Sun reports.

Coltrane, 68, will reportedly spend his days bound to a wheelchair until he receives life-changing surgery to repair the damage in the joint.

The Frogs for Snakes actor appeared in his wheelchair for the first time on Monday night at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London for the launch of the new Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike ride — which is set to launch later this year at Universal Orlando in Florida.

Speaking of his struggles in dealing with the condition, Coltrane admitted he is in constant pain and is “due a new knee”.

“I had an exploratory operation and they discovered I had no cartilage left in one of my knees,” The Sun reported he said at the event.

“It’s completely disintegrated. And they told me it’s osteoarthritis.”

Before Coltrane is back on his feet again he will have to undergo surgery which will see artificial components used to repair the joint. He also claimed at the event that the operation will not take place until he loses around 45 kilograms.

Despite the challenges faced of late, the star has maintained his positive outlook, claiming once he’s recovered from the operation he’ll be “leaping around like an elf”.

Osteoarthritis is a type of arthritis that impacts joints, causing them to become painful and stuff. Some patients experience swelling, tenderness in their knees, back, neck and hips, with around 630 million people worldwide currently living with the painful condition.

While there’s currently no cure for osteoarthritis, researchers earlier this year discovered 52 genetic changes linked to the disease, doubling the previous number of genetic regions associated with the health issue.

In the largest genetic study of osteoarthritis to date, researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute analysed more than 77,000 people with the condition and discovered the new genes and biological pathways associated with osteoarthritis. It is hoped the discovery will identify starting points for new medicines, as well as opportunities for existing medicines to be evaluated.

Osteoarthritis is currently managed with pain relief medication or joint replacement surgery, but outcomes vary from person to person. It is the most prevalent musculoskeletal disease in the world and a leading cause of disability.

For the study, which was published in Nature Genetics Journals, researchers used data from the UK Biobank resource and the arcOGEN study (a study involving a UK-wide consortium funded by Arthritis Research UK) and analysed more than 370,000 healthy people in addition to the 77,000 with various types of osteoarthritis. To discover which genes caused osteoarthritis, researchers incorporated additional functional genomic data and analysed gene activity by measuring gene expression down to the protein level.

By incorporating different data sets such as genetic and proteomic data on tissue taken from patients undergoing joint replacement surgery, researchers were able to identify the genes most likely to cause osteoarthritis. They highlighted 10 genes as targets of existing drugs used against osteoarthritis and other diseases.

These drugs, both in clinical development or approved for use, included INVOSSA (used for knee osteoarthritis) and LCL-161 (a clinical drug for treatment of breast cancer, leukaemia and myeloma).

“We know that the condition impacts people in different ways, meaning the treatment that works for one person doesn’t always work for someone else,” arcOGEN researcher Stephen Simpson said in a statement. “This study represents a hugely important milestone towards understanding the complexity of osteoarthritis and finding new treatments and we are delighted that our support for the arcOGEN study has helped deliver this.

“In the long term, the research progresses us significantly on the journey to ending the pain, isolation and fatigue of those living with arthritis.”