She will investigate whether antibodies can harm the body from within
Associate Professor Stinne Greisen from the Department of Biomedicine has received DKK 4.4 million from the Independent Research Fund Denmark. The grant will enable her to investigate whether certain antibodies play a larger role in connective tissue diseases than previously thought.
In some connective tissue diseases, the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the body itself. In patients, doctors often find specific antibodies in the blood, which help them make the diagnosis.
Until now, these antibodies have primarily been regarded as markers of the disease. But Stinne Greisen will investigate whether they may also help drive the development of the disease.
The antibodies she is studying are directed at specific targets inside the cells. For this reason, it has not previously been assumed that the antibodies could enter the cells and influence the disease. However, Stinne Greisen’s hypothesis is that they may nevertheless be able to penetrate the cells and help trigger an inflammatory response that damages the tissue.
“If we can understand how the antibodies affect the cells, it could give us an entirely new understanding of why the diseases develop – and perhaps point to new ways of treating them,” says Stinne Greisen.
The grant will allow her to employ a PhD student and a postdoc and cover ongoing laboratory expenses. The aim is to generate new knowledge about why connective tissue diseases arise and develop – and, in the longer term, contribute to better treatments for patients.
The project will be carried out in collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Biomedicine and Aarhus University Hospital, as well as Professor Vincent Sobanski from Université de Lille in France.
Contact
Associate Professor, medical doctor and PhD Stinne Ravn Greisen
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
Phone: +45 22 45 11 14
Email: srg@biomed.au.dk