NEW ORLEANS—The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light the interplay of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the immune systems of infected patients. Acute autoimmune manifestations of COVID-19, such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and myocarditis, clearly exist. A session at the 2023 Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium, Autoantibodies in COVID-19 explored this topic in detail, including a…
Skin Oils Act as Natural, Tissue-Specific Autoantigens
The results of this study identify natural lipids present in the skin that augment and inhibit human T cell response, supporting the idea that lipids are T cell antigens.
Within Our Reach–Funded Research Finds Highly Specific Markers of RA
A study recently published in Arthritis & Rheumatism concluded that anti–peptidyl arginine deiminase type 4 (PAD-4) antibodies are highly specific markers of RA and appear to be useful markers of disease severity. The project studied an important and previously unrecognized immune response in RA—anti–PAD-4, which is one of the major proteins that creates other common autoantigens in RA.