Children’s National Hospital Celiac Disease Program
Principal Investigators: Vanessa Weisbrod, Jocelyn Silvester, Catherine Raber, Joyana McMahon, Shayna Coburn and Benny Kerzner
The Children’s National Celiac Disease Program and the Global Autoimmune Institute worked in partnership from 2015 to 2021 to develop robust educational resources, including:
- The gluten-free podcast and digital app streamlines access to information and navigating new lifestyle choices.
- Web-based video education seminars to help families with this autoimmune disease cope with the chronic condition.
- Building alliances with pediatric celiac disease programs across the United States to develop national recommendations for managing celiac disease at school and other learning environments.
- A research publication that aimed to investigate whether attention and executive functioning were associated with dietary adherence in children with celiac disease.
In addition, through the synthesis of our financial support and the passionate dedication of both the Celiac Group at Children’s National Hospital and GAI, CNH established the first-of-its-kind multidisciplinary clinic for celiac disease patients.
The clinic brings together several medical specialties, including gastroenterology, neurology, psychology, nutrition, and education. These specialties collaborate to thoroughly diagnose and treat coexisting autoimmune diseases and neurological and psychological disorders, as well as to teach the patients and their families about proper nutrition and the many important aspects of living a gluten-free life.
Antibodies to an Epstein Barr Virus Protein that Cross-React with dsDNA Have Pathogenic Potential
Principal Investigator: Dr. Linda Spatz
Photo: Linda Spatz, PhD, and colleagues in their lab, City University of New York (CUNY)
This scientific investigation of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients focuses on whether the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) causes the production of human antibodies using molecular mimicry in SLE patients. This could suggest that EBV may be a cause of SLE. The long-term goal of the study is to design a treatment to block certain EBV antibodies that cause organ damage in SLE patients.
You can find the research article, published in Molecular Immunology, here!
Exploring Effects of Cancer Immunotherapy Drugs on Autoimmune Manifestations
Principal Investigator: Dr. Paulina Chalan
Photo from left to right; Patrizio Caturegli, M.D., M.P.H., Director of The Autoimmune Research Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine; Sandra J. Boek, Executive Director, GAI; Paulina Chalan, PhD, Walter and Jean Boek Autoimmune Research Fellow, Division of Immunology, Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins Medicine is exploring the development of autoimmune hypophysitis (primarily affecting the pituitary gland) following cancer immunotherapy. This study is significant and unique, in that it will track the development of this autoimmune disease from inception, in mouse models, in order to better understand the evolution of the disease.