Understanding Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Heterogeneity in a South Carolina Gullah African American Cohort Using Exposomics
Abstract
Our immune system helps us fight off foreign invaders like viruses and harmful bacteria. In order to do this, the immune system must recognize which cells are beneficial and which are harmful. In the disease lupus, a person’s own immune system has trouble recognizing the good cells and begins attacking the person’s tissues. This type of disease is called an auto-immune disorder. Without a cure or full understanding of what causes this disease, and with about 16,000 new cases of lupus per year in the United States, and about 1.5 million Americans having lupus, research is needed to determine how and why lupus occurs. In addition, there are many forms of lupus, and by better classifying these forms and diagnosing lupus, scientists and clinicians can develop medicine which more precisely suites the form of the patient’s condition. While anyone can get lupus, the highest people at risk are African American women. Our study focuses on urine and blood plasma samples collected from Gullah African American women without lupus and with varying conditions and stages of lupus. We also collected samples from the same patients at two different visits to look into disease progression for the same individual. Our recruitment success is in part due to establishing a trusting relationship with the community and providing service-oriented research. The large amount of genetic, dietary, disease risk, and exposure data we have collected previously from patients, relatives, and unrelated controls, provides valuable existing data to build upon. To better understand why lupus occurs, how it occurs, and to classify and diagnose different subtypes of lupus, we will be employing state of the art measurement technologies. These technologies can provide data on thousands to tens of thousands of small molecules in human samples, without even knowing prior to measurement what molecules to expect. One class of small molecules we will detect are environmental contaminants, such as plastic additives, to determine if exposures to contaminants exacerbates or even leads to certain instances of lupus. Another ubiquitous class of contaminants we will investigate are perfluorinated chemicals. Certain contaminants we will measure have previously been detected at high amounts in the population, serving as a potential warning that they may have a role with disease. Any links between environmental contaminants and lupus determined in this study may provide clinicians and patients with valuable data to change lifestyle habits, such as diet, and to minimize exposure to these contaminants and hence, reduce lupus symptoms and occurrence. In addition, any links between contaminants and the auto-immune disorder lupus may have more far reaching consequences in understanding risk factors for autoimmune disorders in general, of which 50 million Americans suffer. Regulatory policy on contaminant release and cleanup may be one result to help curb lupus and auto-immune diseases if significant links between contaminants and the disease are determined. Another direction of this proposal will be the measurement of biological small molecules, as these small molecules can serve as signatures of all the processes which occur in our body to maintain life. These molecules often shift in concentration more rapidly with changes in the body’s response to disease and the environment, in comparison to the level of changes found in genetics, and therefore may provide new diagnostic tools for the disease and a new understanding of how lupus affects the body. By comprehensively measuring these small molecules, we can determine the specific molecules which change with the disease, and these molecules can be used for better diagnosis and categorization of lupus conditions, understanding mechanisms of the disease, and eventually, through understanding disease mechanisms, better treatments of the disease. Our study population has various disease criteria, and therefore will help u
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 10, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2010221
Entities
People
- John Bowden
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Florida