KFO 250:  Genetic and Cellular Mechanisms of Autoimmune Diseases

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: from 2010 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 160564869

The diagnosis and therapy of autoimmune diseases require first-class clinical skills. Often the diagnosis finding is delayed and followed by an intermittent progressive disease course and life long care from specialised physicians. Innovative treatment strategies are expensive and imply the risk of unfavourable adverse events. The etiology of autoimmunity, especially in systemic autoimmune disorders, is poorly understood. Even the success of established or more recent therapies is sometimes based on incompletely conceived pathways or result from empirical observations. Many immunosuppressive drugs interfere with complex immune reactions in a rather unspecific way.
The aim of the Clinical Research Unit is to delineate the cellular mechanisms of systemic and organ-specific autoimmune diseases. For this, genetic studies in families with high incidence of autoimmunity, well-characterised patient cohorts and cutting-edge animal models will be scientifically explored. This strategy is aimed at developing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic options for autoimmune diseases.

• DFG Programme: Clinical Research Units

Projects

• Allgemeine Verwaltungsaufgaben (Applicant Behrens, Georg )
• Autoreaktive T-Lymphozyten bei atopischer Dermatitis (Applicant Werfel, Thomas )
• Die Bedeutung follikulärer T-Helfer-(TFH) und T-Helfer-17-Zellen (TH17) bei der Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung der rheumatoiden Arthritis (Applicant Förster, Reinhold )
• Effektorfunktionen von eosinophilen und basophilen Granulozyten und anti-Fc­­epsilonRlalpha Autoantikörpern beim bullösen Pemphigoid (Applicant Raap, Ulrike )
• Epigenetische Marker zur Quantifizierung von inflammatorischen und regulatorischen T-Zellen in Autoimmunpatienten (Applicants Hühn, Jochen ;  Lochner, Matthias )
• Funktion von Autophagie bei Antigenpräsentation und Autoimmunerkrankungen (Applicant Behrens, Georg )
• Klinische Daten- und Biomaterialienbank von Autoimmunpatienten (Applicant Behrens, Georg )
• Klinische, genetische und immunologische Charakterisierung monogener Autoimmunerkrankungen bei Kindern (Applicant Klein, Christoph )
• Leukocyte Immunoglobulin-like Receptors (Immunoglobulin-like Transcripts) und Autoimmunerkrankungen: Genetische Assoziationen und Regulation (Applicant Witte, Torsten )
• Optimierung der Diagnostik und Therapie der Autoimmunhepatitis (Applicants Jaeckel, Elmar ;  Taubert, Richard )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Reinhold Ernst Schmidt (†)
• Leader: Professor Dr. Georg Behrens