ANTIBODIES AND MARKERS OF DISEASE ACTIVITY IN PATIENTS WITH AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. There is emerging data that patients with autoimmune diseases develop antibodies to a variety of cells, cell surface molecules, regulatory proteins, and their ligands. In order to determine the prevalence, and thus clinical significance, it is important to collect a cohort of patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases. These samples of serum and plasma will serve as a valuable resource to rheumatologists and immunologists at UAB to provide preliminary data for additional studies to evaluate the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, and thus better therapies. The goal of this project is to develop a repository of serum and plasma from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), vasculitis or osteoarthntis (OA), seronegative spondylitis (SNSA) and scleroderma (PSS). Approximately 450 patients with RA, SLE, vasculitis, and OA, recruited in the Rheumatology clinics at UAB, will have a total of 40 ml orf blood drawn for serum and plasma. Also, their medical records will be reviewed to obtain basic demographic data: age, race, gender, disease data (year of onset, organ involvement, disease activity, and current medications).