Humoral And Cellular Tolerization Approaches Against Autoimmunity

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): After carefully evaluating the merits, potential pitfalls, concerns and failures of the strategies so far proposed to treat autoimmune diseases, it was concluded that recombinant antibody and dendritic cell-based approaches would be clinically translatable modalities with the greatest likelihood of success during treatment, combined with the least concern of deleterious side effects. Importantly, the investigators collaborating in this proposal have themselves, or are collaborating with others at the University of Pittsburgh who have exceptional expertise in these approaches. This application will provide further insights into the basic mechanisms of action of the proposed approaches, in itself a compelling rationale for their selection and evaluation. To better organize these studies, it was also concluded that an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence may represent the most appropriate "umbrella" under which to consolidate the efforts of the interested clinicians and scientists of the University of Pittsburgh. The complexity of studying and developing new therapeutic approaches to treating autoimmune diseases requires a modern, multidisciplinary research climate. The synchronization of both the expertise and the technology available among the investigators within this university who are interested in the same scientific area, i.e., autoimmunity, is necessary in order to maximize the use of all of the resources in the most cost effective and academically efficient manner. Moreover the University of Pittsburgh will greatly benefit from a forum specifically dedicated to the study of autoimmunity, where both junior and established investigators within different departments and institutions, and with interdisciplinary expertise, can be drawn together with interested clinicians so that bench-to-bedside transfer can be fostered more efficiently. In order to encourage young researchers to devote their careers to the study of autoimmune ailments, especially those that affect children, it is here proposed to build an Autoimmune Center of Excellence with the specific belief that fostering of this type of career is easier within a scientifically challenging atmosphere of collegiality and intellectual discourse. Finally, having an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence in Pittsburgh entirely dedicated to a single philosophical and scientific goal: "understanding, preventing and eventually curing autoimmune diseases" will allow the creation of new scientific leads that will form the basis for more promising clinical trials.