Different autoimmune diseases affect different tissues, and they are caused by different underlying immune system defects. For example, in multiple sclerosis, the myelin sheaths that insulate nerves are damaged. Lupus may affect many different tissues, including the joints and skin. Rheumatoid arthritis results in swollen, stiff and painful joints, particularly in the hands and wrists. And in scleroderma, the skin is primarily affected, although the blood vessels, muscles and internal organs may also be damaged.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center researchers are working to understand why the immune system sometimes turns on healthy tissue. They are also harnessing a breakthrough cancer-fighting treatment to heal autoimmunity.
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Researchers and Patient Treatments | Clinical Trials | Autoimmune Disease Research
Our Autoimmune Disease Researchers
Our interdisciplinary scientists and clinicians work together to prevent, diagnose and treat autoimmune diseases as well as cancers and other diseases.
Patient Treatment and Care
At Fred Hutch, our interdisciplinary teams work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our aim is to provide patients access to advanced treatment options while getting the best cancer care.
Autoimmune Disease Clinical Trials
Clinical research is an essential part of the scientific process that leads to new treatments and better care. Clinical trials can also be a way for patients to get early access to new cutting-edge therapies. Our clinical research teams are running clinical studies on several kinds of autoimmune diseases.
Blood and Marrow Transplantation
We pioneered the use of bone marrow transplants to cure leukemia. Now our researchers are studying its use to treat autoimmune diseases.
Replacing a patient’s self-attacking immune system with healthy cells can reverse or alleviate certain autoimmune diseases, particularly multiple sclerosis, and scleroderma.
Patients with severe autoimmune disease can receive an autologous, or self-derived, transplant. Their own stem cells are isolated from their blood, then given back to replenish their immune system without the disease-causing cells. Alternatively, the transplanted stem cells can come from a healthy donor.
Understanding the Causes of Autoimmunity
Focusing particularly on scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis, our researchers seek to understand the causes of autoimmune diseases. Their investigations range from the underlying cellular and molecular processes that go awry in autoimmunity to the role of microchimerism, in which one individual has a small number of cells originating from a different individual.
The most common type of microchimerism, known as microchimerism of fetal origin, occurs as a result of pregnancy when some of a fetus’ cells cross the placenta and take root in the mother’s body. Similarly, maternal cells often take up residence in a developing fetus. Every person likely harbors cells at least from their mother. A woman who has been pregnant can harbor cells of different origins, from her pregnancies as well as from her own mother.