Investigating immune responses to blood cells
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating immune responses to blood cells
IRAS ID
94172
Contact name
Mark A. Vickers
Contact email
Research summary
Autoimmune disease occurs when the immune response mistakes ’self’ for a foreign antigen and attacks the self antigen. We are interested in studying autoimmune blood disorders and we have begun to identify the white blood cells (lymphocytes) that mediate damage in two important human diseases, namely autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA) and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). In AIHA the autoimmune response destroys red blood cells leading to anaemia, whilst in ITP the target is platelets causing abnormal bleeding. Although current immunosuppressive treatments can control symptoms, patients become susceptible to other infections, and some die from causes related to treatment. Therefore there is a pressing need for more specific therapy and a better understanding of why immune cells react against apparently healthy cells in order to suggest new therapeutic strategies.
The goal of this research is to find new ways to prevent the activation of the lymphocytes that mediate these abnormal immune responses. Lymphocytes can be obtained from different sources in the body including blood, spleen and lymphoid tissues. However, the most easily accessible source is from blood and we plan to collect blood samples from patients with or without AIHA or ITP and from healthy donors to study and compare these immune responses. Since both diseases wax and wane in intensity, we may request repeat blood samples so we can correlate our findings with disease severity. Our focus in the laboratory will be on defining the exact molecular targets for autoimmune attack and the identity of the proteins controlling the aberrant immune responses. Better understanding of the diseases will lead to improved treatments in the future.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
14/NS/0009
Date of REC Opinion
20 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion