The current work of the University of Michigan Clinical ACE is built on the hypothesis that organ- targeted autoimmune diseases depend on unique pathogenic interactions between cells of the immune system and parenchymal or stromal cells of the target organ, both in disease initiation and target organ destruction. Based on advances over the past five years, we propose here a new but related central hypothesis, that novel, safer and more effective precision-targeted and personalized therapies for autoimmune diseases can be developed based on insights into two critical and interacting components of autoimmune diseases: 1) the molecular mechanisms by which target organ stromal and parenchymal cells initiate, orchestrate and control the evolution and consequences of autoimmune diseases and 2) the critical roles of localization of unusual lymphocyte populations to target organs in subsets of patients with autoimmune diseases, and the opportunity for elimination of these cells without substantial impairment of normal host defenses. The primary clinical project, CD319 as a novel target for treatment of systemic sclerosis: Treatment with Elotuzumab, led by Dinesh Khanna, MD, MSc is built on evidence for a pathogenic role of CD4+CD319+ lymphocytes in autoimmune diseases that leads to fibrosis of target organs. We believe that this will be the first protocol to select subjects for treatment of a human autoimmune disease based on demonstration of expansion of the targeted lymphocyte subset at trial entry. The alternate clinical project: Tofacitinib for treatment of photosensitivity and cutaneous inflammation in systemic lupus, led by J. Michelle Kahlenberg, MD, PhD, is based on our observation that keratinocyte-derived interferon-kappa drives photosensitivity and cutaneous inflammation in lupus skin. Treatment of these aspects of lupus with a janus kinase inhibitor will be a step towards more precise targeting of interferon-kappa in lupus. Our collaborative project: Validation of novel molecular targets for more precise treatment of autoimmune diseases, led by David A. Fox, MD, will assess expression and function of selected molecules produced by stromal cells in target organs of a broad range of autoimmune diseases -- AIRE (the autoimmune regulator protein), CD318 (a novel ligand of CD6) and CD13, which may have major pathogenic roles in human autoimmune conditions. These projects will be supported by an Administrative Core and a Funds Management Core, and by numerous patient cohorts, disease-focused clinical programs, core facilities and biorepositories at the University. The Principal Investigators, Drs. Dinesh Khanna and David A. Fox, work in close collaboration on our existing Clinical ACE and have substantial experience and productivity in clinical and translational research in systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other human rheumatic/autoimmune diseases. Together with a team of colleagues at the University of Michigan and future collaborators from other ACE institutions, this group of investigators is poised to make valuable contributions to our understanding and treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Overall This Clinical Autoimmunity Center of Excellence application proposes to explore new approaches to the treatment of lupus and scleroderma. Our team of scientists will also study a broad range of other autoimmune diseases in order to validate additional new molecular targets that could lead to safer and more effective treatment of many human autoimmune diseases.
