ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID SYNDROME (APS)
PROGRAM UPDATE
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Thank you for your continued interest and support in the APS Program at Michigan Medicine, and if you just joined our email list, welcome! Our work in the lab moves forward in the pursuit of personalized, proactive treatments for APS with a long-term goal of a cure. We do this work to make lives better, and we hope we can use these emails to build a community of others who want the same. We’re all in this together! |
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Potential Therapeutic Target for Lupus |
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For several years now, we have been studying a type of white blood cell called the neutrophil, which we think is abnormally activated in both lupus and APS. We started this project after our colleagues in the O'Riordan Lab discovered that a molecule called IRE1α causes neutrophils to become super-activated in the setting of Staph infections. We suspected the same molecule might be playing a role in the abnormal neutrophil activation that happens in lupus and APS. And that is what we found! This first paper mainly focuses on lupus, but we are now in the process of studying the same molecule in APS. Look for more on this soon.
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Phenotyping Endothelial Cells in APS Study |
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APS is caused by antibodies in the blood becoming self-reactive and attacking the healthy tissues. One structure that can come under attack is the blood vessels themselves, including microscopic blood vessels near the surface of the skin. When this happens, there can be skin mottling known as livedo reticularis.
For this project, we are recruiting patients with APS for skin biopsy of the upper leg (a common place we find livedo). We then turn the biopsied tissue into a single-cell suspension and apply a relatively new technology called “single-cell RNA sequencing”. This allows us to tell how each individual cell in the biopsy is being regulated and also what genes it is expressing. We can then focus in on cells of particular interest such as endothelial cells (the cells that line the blood vessels and are in direct contact with the blood) and figure out what makes them different in APS.
So far we have biopsied 6 individuals with APS and 4 individuals without. And the results are looking really interesting! We have been paying for the project with donations to the lab (single-cell sequencing costs about $3,000 per sample - yikes), and as a next step we will be submitting a large grant to really expand the work. This project is almost surely going to identify new targets for precision therapeutics, which we think will have particular relevance to some of the hardest to treat symptoms of APS such as kidney problems, cognitive decline, and skin ulcers. This important project is being led by Dr. Hui Shi in the lab.
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Our lab is comprised of many talented and dedicated researchers all working towards the common goal of making the lives of APS patients better. This month we are highlighting Sri Yalavarthi, MS. |
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Meet Sri Yalavarthi
Srilakshmi (Sri) Yalavarthi, MS, is the lab manager in Dr. Jason Knight’s Lab. Sri majored in Biochemistry and Human Genetics for her undergraduate degree and received her Master’s degree in Biochemistry in India. Sri came to the United States in August 1999, where she pursued another Master’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Eastern Michigan University. Read more.
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"Prothrombotic Autoantibodies in Serum from Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19", a collaboration between the Knight Lab and Kanthi Lab, was selected as one of 64 entries across the country to compete in this year's STAT Madness, an annual online bracket-based competition that recognizes the best innovations in biomedicine. This collaborative research publication made it to round two, where it was unfortunately outvoted by Scripps Research/San Diego Zoo, Saving Rhinos from Extinction. Read more.
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Dr. Knight Featured in Hometown Paper |
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Dr. Jason Knight’s hometown recently honored him in the local newspaper highlighting his research efforts, “From Mowing Lawns to the Research Lab: Southwood Grad Leads Study in Autoimmune Disease”. We hope to continue these great efforts and continue to expand our research and clinical care in APS. Read more.
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Patient Stories
We would like to share your story and experience living with APS. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to MichiganANSWERS@med.umich.edu.
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Patient Education
We are interested in providing more patient education and would like to hear your thoughts. Share your ideas by sending an email to MichiganANSWERS@med.umich.edu.
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Our lab's research holds exceptional promise for finally treating APS at its source, thereby neutralizing all aspects of the condition. With help from our donors, we are able to keep our research moving forward, with the goal of making life safer, more comfortable, and less unpredictable for hundreds of thousands of people living with the interruptions and fear of APS.
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Michigan Medicine
1150 West Medical Center Drive
5504 MSRB 1
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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