The Office of Autoimmune Disease Research (OADR) in the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health recently announced eight OADR Intramural Research Awards to NIH intramural researchers engaged in high-priority autoimmune disease research. The awards are for individuals at all stages in their careers. Two of the awarded projects went to NIAMS intramural investigators:
Identification of Pathogenic CD8+ T Cell Responses in Human Leukocyte Antigen-B27 Positive (HLA-B27+) Axial SpA
NIAMS Clinical Director Robert Colbert and Staff Clinician Sahar Lotfi-Emran will focus on axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA), a term used to describe a group of inflammatory and autoimmune joint and systemic diseases. Results from this study may be used to develop testing to enable earlier diagnosis of AxSpA, tools to explore pathogenesis of disease, and, in the longer term, to develop novel therapeutics.
Exploring Mechanisms That Underlie Autoimmune Disease Development in Drug-Induced Hypersensitivity Syndrome
NIAMS Senior Investigator Keisuke (Chris) Nagao’s project is keyed to drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DiHS), which is linked to an increased prevalence of the onset of various autoimmune diseases. Nagao will explore how a common virus involved in most DiHS cases might contribute to the breakdown of immunological tolerance, resulting in the development of autoimmune diseases.
For more information on the OADR Intramural Research Awards read this spotlight from ORWH.