Lupus research gets 3-year SFI funding

An Irish scientist has secured funding for groundbreaking research into a chronic inflammatory condition which affects one in 200 people in Ireland.

Dr Caroline Jefferies, a senior lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, will study cellular changes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease.

In SLE/lupus, the immune system attacks the body's own cells and proteins and can result in debilitating symptoms such as arthritic joints and skin rashes, as well as internal organ damage.

Dr Jefferies is looking at changes that occur in cells of the immune system in lupus, with particular focus on the effects of toll-like receptors (TLRs) molecules that stick out of the cell surface.

These receptors usually recognise and bind genetic material from viruses invading the body, and help relay messages to the immune system to destroy them.

"We are interested in these receptors that recognise viruses. The TLRs on the surface of certain immune cells seem to be over-activated in lupus," she said, adding that the receptors which normally target viruses now become activated by material from the body itself.

This triggers immune responses designed to contain and destroy viruses, but instead they end up killing and damaging surrounding tissue, she said.

Dr Jefferies will study crucial biochemical pathways that kick off inside the cell when specific TLRs become over-activated. She will also look at what happens to particular proteins thought to be involved in lupus. Part of the work will use proteomics, an approach that rapidly screens proteins present in a cell.

"The ultimate aim is to work out how these are working in the cells and to see if there is a link with the proteins we are interested in with lupus," she said. She believes the research could yield possible drug targets for the condition.

Dr Jefferies was last month awarded a three-year grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). Hers was one of 10 successful applications to SFI's principal investigator career advancement programme.

This scheme provides funding of up to €200,000 per year. "The career advancement award is for somebody who was on a competitive trajectory who had taken maternity, parental, adoptive or carer's leave," says SFI programme officer Dr Mary Kelly.