“We had several novel observations,” Dr. Shahrara explains. “Not only were we able to identify the function of IL-17 in the joint but, using microarray, we compared RA cells to normal cells and we identified genes that were regulated in RA myeloid cells as compared to normal cells. We got very good information about how to continue and what to focus our research on.”
Dr. Shahrara, who is now associate professor of medicine in the department of rheumatology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been building on the findings from her Foundation-funded project, branching out into studying osteoclastogenesis and the role of obesity in RA.
“We are currently working on those genes we identified,” Dr. Shahrara says. “I became very interested in studying the mechanism of these genes that we identified and their role in osteoclastogenesis. Some of these genes are very important for new vascularization, and lately we have become very interested in obesity. We had some preliminary data, where we found these myeloid cells are very much affected by fat. Culturing fat from RA tissue in the presence of these myeloid cells is a huge promoter of inflammation, so we’ve lately become interested in studying the role of obesity in these cells.”
Dr. Shahrara says that she is hopeful that her work in identifying genes that play a significant role in RA will help aid in the development of novel therapies that can help treat the disease. She adds that she would have never been able to reach this point in her career if not for her grant from the Foundation. Small, private grants are important for making sure researchers can advance their careers and the field of rheumatology, Dr. Shahrara explains.
“These small awards are really instrumental in getting the bigger awards,” says Dr. Shahrara. “Without them, investigators can’t move on to bigger projects.”
To learn more about how you can support the Rheumatology Research Foundation, please visit www.rheumatology.org/Foundation.
