The UK’s only Sarcoidosis charity, SarcoidosisUK, is celebrating 20 years since its foundation with pioneering research that hopes to find a cure for this rare disease.

Sarcoidosis is an under-researched disease, affecting one in 10,000 people in the UK and a million around the world.

Sarcoidosis is an agonising, debilitating disease that can affect any part of the body. It often affects the lungs but can also target the skin, eyes, joints, nervous system, heart and other body parts. Patients can be affected in multiple organs.

Sarcoidosis is an under-researched disease with no cure. Patients have their symptoms treated with the hope that the disease goes into remission. However, in 20-30% of cases it becomes chronic and in up to 5% cases it is terminal.

Since its inception, SarcoidosisUK has focused on funding and commissioning research towards finding a cure. In the last three years it has negotiated donation multiplying partnerships to fund over £360,000 of crucial research. Each project has been a building block towards a cure and reducing deaths from Sarcoidosis.

Now in its 20th year, ground-breaking research offers hope of finally finding a cure. Researchers from the University of Vienna have discovered that “switching on” a protein called mTOR in a mouse gives it Sarcoidosis. SarcoidosisUK is funding a project to discover if the reverse works – blocking the mTOR protein to stop Sarcoidosis.