Autoimmune Polyendocrine Syndrome Type 1 - A rare disorder of childhood as a model of autoimmunity

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This project will analyse the mechanisms and causes of diabetes and other autoimmune diseases where the immune system damages particular organs of the body. Diabetes is a national health priority, and autoimmune diseases collectively affect one in every twenty Australians. The project will focus on a recently discovered gene, Autoimmune Regulator (AIRE) that is crucial for protection against autoimmune disease, which Prof Goodnow's team has shown to stop forbidden clones of T lymphocytes in the immune system from attacking our own organs. Inherited defects in the AIRE gene cause a devastating illness, Autoimmune Polyendocrine Syndrome 1, and provide an unparalleled insight into mechanisms of common autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes, thyroid diseases, pernicious anemia, and Addison's disease. By joining forces with Dr H Scott and a multidisciplinary consortium in Europe, Prof Goodnow's team will investigate how the processes controlled by the AIRE gene cooperate with other genes and mechanisms to prevent autoimmune disease. The work will chart the different control systems that normally protect us from autoimmune diseases, and provide a rational basis for developing new ways to treat and prevent autoimmune diseases. The NHMRC funding enables two leading Australian groups at The Australian National University and at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute to amplify their world-leading individual efforts by leveraging a set of complementary technologies and clinical resources of an interdisciplinary team in Europe. Goodnow's team has already proved the benefit of this type of Australian-European collaboration. Their work discovering the function of the AIRE gene in stopping forbidden T cells depended on a close collaboration with the genetics group in Finland led by Prof Leena Peltonen, whose team had originally discovered the AIRE gene as part of a large European consortium. Scott's team was part of a parallel European-Japanese consortium that discovered the AIRE gene at the same time. The EURAPS project will build on these collaborative discoveries to chart the mechanisms of autoimmune disease and how they can be cured or prevented.The NHMRC funding for the Australian teams is amplified to a multiplier of twenty-fold by European funding for the overall EURAPS project. This represents a strategic investment to ensure Australian health research remains at the forefront of advances in prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.