ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID SYNDROME (APS)
PROGRAM UPDATE
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Thank you for joining the APS Program email list! Our goal with these updates is to share with you our latest efforts in research and patient care. As many of you know, our work is in pursuit of personalized, proactive treatments for APS with a long-term goal of a cure. We also feel it’s important to take what we are learning from the study of APS and apply it to other diseases that may have similar mechanisms. We recently did this with some success with a study that we did on COVID-19 that helped researchers learn more about this disease. We will continue to look for other opportunities to pitch in and help.
In the end, we do this work to make lives better, and we hope we can use this email list to begin to build a community of others who want the same. We’re all in this together!
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Ginger Counters Certain Autoimmune Diseases in Mice |
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This was a fun project. It was largely the idea of one of our lab members, Dr. Ramadan Ali. He grew up in Yemen and has long been interested in bringing more scientific rigor to the study of time-tested natural remedies. This started as a side project funded by a generous donor and we were eventually able to unlock money from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to take the project to completion.
Very briefly, we found that 6-gingerol (the most abundant bioactive compound in ginger root) was very effective at suppressing white blood cell (specifically neutrophil) activation in the test tube. Over the last few years, we have been pursuing neutrophils as a therapeutic target and 6-gingerol worked as well (again in the test tube) as many more traditional drugs that we have studied.
The coolest part is that we think we have a pretty good idea of the mechanism. It seems that 6-gingerol works as a “phosphodiesterase inhibitor.” This is similar to how the FDA-approved drug apremilast works. So maybe 6-gingerol is like a mild version of apremilast!? As a next step, we plan to apply for an NIH grant to perform a clinical trial with a ginger supplement in APS (and possibly also rheumatoid arthritis). We have sourced a supplement from India that has higher 6-gingerol content and also may be better absorbed. We can’t wait to dig into this further!
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We started the Antiphospholipid Syndrome: Working to Establish Real Solutions (ANSWERS) in January 2019. This is an important study where we hope to eventually track 500 antiphospholipid antibody-positive individuals over multiple years. The key is that we won’t simply track what’s in the chart. We will also save serum, plasma, white blood cells, and genetic material for cutting-edge experimentation in the lab.
The goal is to align these lab discoveries with information about symptoms, medications, dietary changes, etc. If we can finally understand what makes APS tick (and most importantly what makes one individual different from the next), we believe we can finally prescribe proactive treatments.
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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. Our hope is to introduce you to each of them so that you can learn about their background and also the work that they do in the lab. The first two we are highlighting are Yu (Ray) Zuo, MD and Hui Shi, MD, PhD. |
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Meet Dr. Ray Zuo
Dr. Ray Zuo is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Rheumatology. Dr. Zuo received his MD from Ross University School of Medicine and completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). He then went to UT Southwestern for his clinical rheumatology fellowship. Read more.
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Meet Dr. Hui Shi
Dr. Hui Shi is a Research Fellow in the Division of Rheumatology. Dr. Shi received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Nanjing Medical University in clinical medicine. She then went on to receive her PhD degree in rheumatology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Read more.
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Leading Lupus Researchers Recognized for Exceptional Work in the Field
Please help us in congratulating Dr. Jason Knight, who is the recipient of the Lupus Foundation of America Mary Betty Stevens Young Investigator Prize for his significant contributions to research on lupus and its related cardiovascular complications including 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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Giving Blueday - March 10, 2021
Giving Blueday, taking place this year on March 10, 2021, is a campus-wide giving day for the University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine. From midnight through 11:59 p.m. EST on March 10, Michigan Medicine will invite supporters to make donations to areas that they’re passionate about. With social media challenges and real-time updates throughout the day, they’ll encourage donors, friends, faculty, staff, and other supporters to be a Victor and move medicine forward.
With your investment in the Division of Rheumatology APS Program, we can accelerate the pace of discovery and change the face of this disease to make life safer, more comfortable, less unpredictable, and ultimately find a cure for thousands of people living with the interruptions and fear of APS. Read more.
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Michigan Medicine
1150 West Medical Center Drive
5504 MSRB 1
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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