When I joined NIAMS three and a half years ago, I talked about my commitment to collaboration and learning from the NIAMS community in my first director’s letter. Since then, we have done a lot of both collaborating and learning! I highly value the input from the NIAMS community on the development of our resources and in determining the direction of our research so that we are addressing the needs of the various audiences we serve, from researchers and medical providers to patients and caregivers. NIAMS regularly solicits feedback to understand audience needs. Over the past two years, the NIAMS

Overview A team of NIAMS-funded researchers discovered an imbalance of T cell subtypes in patients with lupus that contributes to ongoing production of disease-causing autoantibodies. Compared to healthy individuals, patients with lupus have more T cells with specialized B cell helper functions and fewer T cells that are important for wound healing and maintaining the epithelial barrier, which acts to protect the body from pathogens and other invaders. The team identified two molecules that control this imbalance, which could be the targets of lupus treatments in the future. The study was recently published in the journal Nature. Background Systemic lupus