Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation | OMRF

OMRF is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to discoveries that make a difference.

Home - Science - Programs - Arthritis & Clinical Immunology Research Program

Arthritis & Clinical Immunology Research Program

What We Do

The human immune system is critical for protection against infections and cancer, but diseases of the immune system can be devastating. These include allergic responses, immunodeficiencies and immune reactions directed against self, called autoimmunity. Autoimmune diseases afflict at least one in twelve Americans and are a leading cause of disability and early death in young women of child-bearing age. Our mission is to improve the lives of patients through a continuum of basic mechanistic studies, clinical research, industry collaborations and clinical care.

Scientists in Arthritis and Clinical Immunology focus on understanding systemic autoimmunity and deciphering basic immunologic concepts. Our studies address the etiology, pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms of complex human autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory myositis, multiple sclerosis (MS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Our studies on immune development and mechanisms of immune protection or perturbation have broad impact on immune responses to vaccination or infection.

Our investigators use a wide range of genetic, genomic, proteomic, immunologic and molecular approaches. To facilitate these patient-oriented research activities, some of our scientists are also developing novel methods to mine large datasets and evaluate complex human genetic diseases.

In addition, the Arthritis and Clinical Immunology program houses resources that are essential for many investigators in our program and in the larger autoimmune disease research community. These include the Biorepository Core, Clinical Immunology Laboratory, Myositis Testing Laboratory, Human Antibody Core, Quantitative Analysis Core, Clinical Genomics Center and Phenotyping Core. Many of these cores were established and funded through ongoing federal grants, leveraging equipment purchased and serviced by OMRF. Our investigators also benefit from departmental journal clubs, seminar series, intentional mentorship and collaborative, multi-investigator scientific projects.

Our Publications

2022

Liu K, Hoover AR, Krawic JR, DeVette CI, Sun XH, Hildebrand WH, Lang ML, Axtell RC, Chen WR. Antigen presentation and interferon signatures in B cells driven by localized ablative cancer immunotherapy correlate with extended survival. Theranostics 12:639-656, 2022 January, PMID: 34976205, PMCID: PMC8692917


2021

Donahue ND, Kanapilly S, Stephan C, Marlin MC, Francek ER, Haddad M, Guthridge J, Wilhelm S. Quantifying Chemical Composition and Reaction Kinetics of Individual Colloidally Dispersed Nanoparticles. Nano Lett, 2021 December, PMID: 34962815

Almeida-Brasil CC, Hanly JG, Urowitz M, Clarke AE, Ruiz-Irastorza G, Gordon C, Ramsey-Goldman R, Petri M, Ginzler EM, Wallace DJ, Bae SC, Romero-Diaz J, Dooley MA, Peschken C, Isenberg D, Rahman A, Manzi S, Jacobsen S, Lim S, van Vollenhoven RF, Nived O, Jönsen A, Kamen DL, Aranow C, Sanchez-Guerrero J, Gladman DD, Fortin PR, Alarcón GS, Merrill JT, Kalunian K, Ramos-Casals M, Steinsson K, Zoma A, Askanase A, Khamashta MA, Bruce IN, Inanc M, Abrahamowicz M, Bernatsky S. Flares after hydroxychloroquine reduction or discontinuation: results from the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) inception cohort. Ann Rheum Dis, 2021 December, PMID: 34911705

Karasawa R, Yudoh K, Sato T, Tanaka M, Tamaki M, Sabbagh SE, O'Hanlon TP, Noroozi-Farhadi P, Targoff IN, Flegel WA, Mammen AL, Miller FW, Hicar MD, Rider LG, Jarvis JN. Association of Anti-HSC70 Autoantibodies with Cutaneous Ulceration and Severe Disease in Juvenile Dermatomyositis. Rheumatology (Oxford), 2021 November, PMID: 34791087

Basu A, Izuora K, Betts NM, Ebersole JL, Scofield RH. Dietary Strawberries Improve Biomarkers of Antioxidant Status and Endothelial Function in Adults with Cardiometabolic Risks in a Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial. Antioxidants (Basel) 10, 2021 October, PMID: 34829601, PMCID: PMC8614674

Slight-Webb S, Guthridge CJ, Kheir J, Chen H, Tran L, Gross T, Roberts V, Khan S, Peercy M, Saunkeah B, Guthridge JM, James JA. Unique serum immune phenotypes stratify Oklahoma Native American rheumatic disease patients. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken), 2021 October, PMID: 34595847

Liu C, Zeng X, Yu S, Ren L, Sun X, Long Y, Wang X, Lu S, Song Y, Sun XH, Zhang Y. Up-regulated DNA-binding inhibitor Id3 promotes differentiation of regulatory T cell to influence antiviral immunity in chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Life Sci 285:119991, 2021 September, PMID: 34592230

Figueroa MG, Parker LM, Krol K, Zhao M. Distal Lck Promoter-Driven Cre Shows Cell Type-Specific Function in Innate-like T Cells. Immunohorizons 5:772-781, 2021 September, PMID: 34583938, PMCID: PMC8612026

Keshari RS, Popescu NI, Silasi R, Regmi G, Lupu C, Simmons JH, Ricardo A, Coggeshall KM, Lupu F. Complement C5 inhibition protects against hemolytic anemia and acute kidney injury in anthrax peptidoglycan-induced sepsis in baboons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 118, 2021 September, PMID: 34507997, PMCID: PMC8449412

Spatz LA, Silverman GJ, James JA. Editorial: Pathogens, Pathobionts, and Autoimmunity. Front Immunol 12:752980, 2021 September, PMID: 34567014, PMCID: PMC8456017

Berndt N, Bippes CC, Michalk I, Bartsch T, Arndt C, Puentes-Cala E, Soto JA, Loureiro LR, Kegler A, Bachmann D, Gross JK, Gross T, Kurien BT, Scofield RH, Farris AD, James JA, Bergmann R, Schmitz M, Feldmann A, Bachmann MP. And Yet It Moves: Oxidation of the Nuclear Autoantigen La/SS-B Is the Driving Force for Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Shuttling. Int J Mol Sci 22, 2021 September, PMID: 34575862, PMCID: PMC8470643

Witas R, Rasmussen A, Scofield RH, Radfar L, Stone DU, Grundahl K, Lewis D, Sivils KL, Lessard CJ, Farris AD, Nguyen CQ. Defective Efferocytosis in a Murine Model of Sjögren's Syndrome Is Mediated by Dysfunctional Mer Tyrosine Kinase Receptor. Int J Mol Sci 22, 2021 September, PMID: 34575873, PMCID: PMC8466327

Lee AS, Scofield RH, Hammitt KM, Carsons SE, Carteron NL. Response. Chest 160:e323, 2021 September, PMID: 34488985

Wood RA, Guthridge L, Thurmond E, Guthridge CJ, Kheir JM, Bourn RL, Wagner CA, Chen H, DeJager W, Macwana SR, Kamp S, Lu R, Arriens C, Chakravarty EF, Thanou A, Merrill JT, Guthridge JM, James JA. Serologic markers of Epstein-Barr virus reactivation are associated with increased disease activity, inflammation, and interferon pathway activation in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. J Transl Autoimmun 4:100117, 2021 August, PMID: 35005588, PMCID: PMC8716608

Blakey GL, McCloskey CB, Guthridge JM, Williams CL, Lu R, Hayes JT, Pinkston KG, Talbert ML. COVID-19 Pandemic Spurs Evolution of an Academic Pathology Department and Laboratory. Acad Pathol 8:23742895211037029, 2021 August, PMID: 34458566, PMCID: PMC8385575

Agasing A, Quinn JL, Kumar G, Axtell RC. Interferon-β Intensifies Interleukin-23-Driven Pathogenicity of T Helper Cells in Neuroinflammatory Disease. Cells 10, 2021 August, PMID: 34440908, PMCID: PMC8392231

Pardo G, Coates S, Okuda DT. Outcome measures assisting treatment optimization in multiple sclerosis. J Neurol, 2021 August, PMID: 34338857

Radhakrishna U, Nath SK, Vishweswaraiah S, Uppala LV, Forray A, Muvvala SB, Mishra NK, Siddesh S, Guda C, Govindamangalam H, Vargas D, Gardella WG, Crist RC, Berrettini WH, Metpally RP, Bahado-Singh RO. Maternal opioid use disorder: Placental transcriptome analysis for neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. Genomics, 2021 August, PMID: 34352367

Moyer A, Chakravarty EF. Management of Pregnancy in Lupus. Rheum Dis Clin North Am 47:441-455, 2021 August, PMID: 34215373

Velasco C, Dunn C, Sturdy C, Izda V, Martin J, Rivas A, McNaughton J, Jeffries MA. Ear wound healing in MRL/MpJ mice is associated with gut microbiome composition and is transferable to non-healer mice via microbiome transplantation. PLoS One 16:e0248322, 2021 July, PMID: 34283837, PMCID: PMC8291702

Srinivasan A, Bajana S, Pankow A, Yuen C, Shah RK, Sun XH. Type 2 innate lymphoid cells from Id1 transgenic mice alleviate skin manifestations of graft-versus-host disease. BMC Immunol 22:46, 2021 July, PMID: 34256699, PMCID: PMC8278660

Subrahmanian S, Borczuk A, Salvatore S, Fung KM, Merrill JT, Laurence J, Ahamed J. Tissue Factor upregulation is associated with SARS-CoV-2 in the lungs of COVID-19 patients. J Thromb Haemost, 2021 July, PMID: 34236752, PMCID: PMC8565501

Zhao M, Quintana A, Zhang C, Andreyev AY, Kiosses W, Kuwana T, Murphy A, Hogan PG, Kronenberg M. Calcium signals regulate the functional differentiation of thymic iNKT cells. EMBO J:e107901, 2021 June, PMID: 34169542, PMCID: PMC8365263

Lin SJ, Vona B, Barbalho PG, Kaiyrzhanov R, Maroofian R, Petree C, Severino M, Stanley V, Varshney P, Bahena P, Alzahrani F, Alhashem A, Pagnamenta AT, Aubertin G, Estrada-Veras JI, Hernández HAD, Mazaheri N, Oza A, Thies J, Renaud DL, Dugad S, McEvoy J, Sultan T, Pais LS, Tabarki B, Villalobos-Ramirez D, Rad A, Genomics England Research Consortium., Galehdari H, Ashrafzadeh F, Sahebzamani A, Saeidi K, Torti E, Elloumi HZ, Mora S, Palculict TB, Yang H, Wren JD, Ben Fowler, Joshi M, Behra M, Burgess SM, Nath SK, Hanna MG, Kenna M, Merritt JL 2nd, Houlden H, Karimiani EG, Zaki MS, Haaf T, Alkuraya FS, Gleeson JG, Varshney GK. Biallelic variants in KARS1 are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and hearing loss recapitulated by the knockout zebrafish. Genet Med, 2021 June, PMID: 34172899

Holloman JP, Axtell RC, Monson NL, Wu GF. The Role of B Cells in Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Front Neurol 12:680581, 2021 June, PMID: 34163430, PMCID: PMC8215437

Smith K, Garman L, Norris K, Muther J, Duke A, Engler RJM, Nelson MR, Collins LC, Spooner C, Guthridge C, James JA. Insufficient Anthrax Lethal Toxin Neutralization Is Associated with Antibody Subclass and Domain Specificity in the Plasma of Anthrax-Vaccinated Individuals. Microorganisms 9, 2021 June, PMID: 34199431, PMCID: PMC8229884

Bagavant H, Araszkiewicz AM, Ingram JK, Cizio K, Merrill JT, Arriens C, Guthridge JM, James JA, Deshmukh US. Immune Response to Enterococcus gallinarum in Lupus Patients Is Associated With a Subset of Lupus-Associated Autoantibodies. Front Immunol 12:635072, 2021 May, PMID: 34122404, PMCID: PMC8193979

Merrill JT. What Did Not Work: The Drug or the Trial? Arthritis Rheumatol, 2021 May, PMID: 34042321

Singh B, Maiti GP, Zhou X, Fazel-Najafabadi M, Bae SC, Sun C, Terao C, Okada Y, Chua KH, Kochi Y, Guthridge JM, Zhang H, Weirauch M, James JA, Harley JB, Varshney GK, Looger LL, Nath SK. Lupus susceptibility region containing CDKN1B rs34330 mechanistically influences expression and function of multiple target genes, also linked to proliferation and apoptosis. Arthritis Rheumatol, 2021 May, PMID: 33982894, PMCID: PMC8589926

Furie R, Morand EF, Askanase AD, Vital EM, Merrill JT, Kalyani RN, Abreu G, Pineda L, Tummala R. Anifrolumab reduces flare rates in patients with moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus. Lupus:9612033211014267, 2021 May, PMID: 33977796

Kabeerdoss J, Sandhya P, Kurien BT, Scofield RH, Danda D. Correction to: In vitro effects of curcumin on proinflammatory cytokines and expression of their genes in minor salivary gland tissue of patients with Sjogren's syndrome. Rheumatol Int, 2021 May, PMID: 33963892

Elkhalifa M, Orbai AM, Magder LS, Petri M, Alarcón GS, Gordon C, Merrill J, Fortin PR, Bruce IN, Isenberg D, Wallace D, Nived O, Ramsey-Goldman R, Bae SC, Hanly JG, Sanchez-Guerrero J, Clarke AE, Aranow C, Manzi S, Urowitz M, Gladman DD, Kalunian K, Werth VP, Zoma A, Bernatsky S, Khamashta M, Jacobsen S, Buyon JP, Dooley MA, Vollenhoven RV, Ginzler E, Stoll T, Peschken C, Jorizzo JL, Callen JP, Lim S, Inanc M, Kamen DL, Rahman A, Steinsson K, Franks AG Jr. Anti-beta 2 glycoprotein I IgA in the SLICC classification criteria dataset. Lupus:9612033211014248, 2021 May, PMID: 33957797

Basu A, Izuora K, Betts NM, Kinney JW, Salazar AM, Ebersole JL, Scofield RH. Dietary Strawberries Improve Cardiometabolic Risks in Adults with Obesity and Elevated Serum LDL Cholesterol in a Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial. Nutrients 13, 2021 April, PMID: 33922576, PMCID: PMC8145532

Wu W, Tian L, Zhang W, Booth JL, Ainsua-Enrich E, Kovats S, Brown BR, Metcalf JP. Long-term cigarette smoke exposure dysregulates pulmonary T cell response and IFN-γ protection to influenza virus in mouse. Respir Res 22:112, 2021 April, PMID: 33879121, PMCID: PMC8056367

Kabeerdoss J, Sandhya P, Kurien BT, Scofield RH, Danda D. In vitro effects of curcumin on proinflammatory cytokines and expression of their genes in minor salivary gland tissue of patients with Sjogren's syndrome. Rheumatol Int, 2021 April, PMID: 33861386

Berndt N, Bippes CC, Michalk I, Bachmann D, Bachmann J, Puentes-Cala E, Bartsch T, Loureiro LR, Kegler A, Bergmann R, Gross JK, Gross T, Kurien BT, Scofield RH, Farris AD, James JA, Schmitz M, Fahmy K, Feldmann A, Arndt C, Bachmann MP. Two Be or Not Two Be: The Nuclear Autoantigen La/SS-B Is Able to Form Dimers and Oligomers in a Redox Dependent Manner. Int J Mol Sci 22, 2021 March, PMID: 33806091, PMCID: PMC8036718

Maria Z, Turner E, Agasing A, Kumar G, Axtell RC. Pertussis Toxin Inhibits Encephalitogenic T-Cell Infiltration and Promotes a B-Cell-Driven Disease during Th17-EAE. Int J Mol Sci 22, 2021 March, PMID: 33805762, PMCID: PMC7998427

Tang W, Askanase AD, Khalili L, Merrill JT. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with SLE. Lupus Sci Med 8, 2021 March, PMID: 33685998, PMCID: PMC7941677

Engmann NJ, Sheinson D, Bawa K, Ng CD, Pardo G. Persistence and adherence to ocrelizumab compared with other disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis in U.S. commercial claims data. J Manag Care Spec Pharm:1-11, 2021 February, PMID: 33624535

Bermel RA, Waubant E, Pardo G, Bass A, Repovic P, Newsome S, Lindsey JW, Kile D, Pradhan A, Musch B, Zabeti A. Safety evaluation of shorter infusion for ocrelizumab in a substudy of the Phase IIIb CHORDS trial. Ann Clin Transl Neurol, 2021 February, PMID: 33621404, PMCID: PMC7951110

Chew C, Reynolds JA, Lertratanakul A, Wu P, Urowitz M, Gladman DD, Fortin PR, Bae SC, Gordon C, Clarke AE, Bernatsky S, Hanly JG, Isenberg D, Rahman A, Sanchez-Guerrero J, Romero-Diaz J, Merrill J, Wallace D, Ginzler E, Khamashta M, Nived O, Jönsen A, Steinsson K, Manzi S, Kalunian K, Dooley MA, Petri M, Aranow C, van Vollenhoven R, Stoll T, Alarcón GS, Lim SS, Ruiz-Irastorza G, Peschken CA, Askanase AD, Kamen DL, İnanç M, Ramsey-Goldman R, Bruce IN. Lower vitamin D is associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance in systemic lupus: data from an international inception cohort. Rheumatology (Oxford), 2021 February, PMID: 33555325, PMCID: PMC8487307

Wallace DJ, Isenberg DA, Morand EF, Vazquez-Mateo C, Kao AH, Aydemir A, Pudota K, Ona V, Aranow C, Merrill JT. Safety and clinical activity of atacicept in the long-term extension of the Phase IIb ADDRESS II study in systemic lupus erythematosus. Rheumatology (Oxford), 2021 February, PMID: 33547784

Munroe ME, Anderson JR, Gross TF, Stunz LL, Bishop GA, James JA. Epstein-Barr Functional Mimicry: Pathogenicity of Oncogenic Latent Membrane Protein-1 in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Autoimmunity. Front Immunol 11:606936, 2021 February, PMID: 33613527, PMCID: PMC7886997

Bachmann MP, Bartsch T, Bippes CC, Bachmann D, Puentes-Cala E, Bachmann J, Bartsch H, Arndt C, Koristka S, Loureiro LR, Kegler A, Laube M, Gross JK, Gross T, Kurien BT, Scofield RH, Farris AD, James JA, Schmitz M, Feldmann A. T Cell Mediated Conversion of a Non-Anti-La Reactive B Cell to an Autoreactive Anti-La B Cell by Somatic Hypermutation. Int J Mol Sci 22, 2021 January, PMID: 33530489, PMCID: PMC7865296

Towner RA, Smith N, Zalles M, Morris S, Toliver M, Saunders D, Lerner M, Kumar G, Axtell RC. ELTD1 as a biomarker for multiple sclerosis: Pre-clinical molecular-targeted studies in a mouse experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model. Mult Scler Relat Disord 49:102786, 2021 January, PMID: 33517175, PMCID: PMC8068591

Oyelakin A, Horeth E, Song EC, Min S, Che M, Marzullo B, Lessard CJ, Rasmussen A, Radfar L, Scofield RH, Lewis DM, Stone DU, Grundahl K, De Rossi SS, Kurago Z, Farris AD, Sivils KL, Sinha S, Kramer JM, Romano RA. Transcriptomic and Network Analysis of Minor Salivary Glands of Patients With Primary Sjögren's Syndrome. Front Immunol 11:606268, 2021 January, PMID: 33488608, PMCID: PMC7821166

McKernan P, Virani NA, Faria GNF, Karch CG, Prada Silvy R, Resasco DE, Thompson LF, Harrison RG. Targeted Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Photothermal Therapy Combined with Immune Checkpoint Inhibition for the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer. Nanoscale Res Lett 16:9, 2021 January, PMID: 33411055, PMCID: PMC7790975

Gaines H, Jones KR, Lim J, Medhi NF, Chen S, Scofield RH. Effect of CFTR modulator therapy on cystic fibrosis-related diabetes. J Diabetes Complications:107845, 2021 January, PMID: 33558149, PMCID: PMC8113061

Ortiz Fernández L, Coit P, Yilmaz V, Yentür SP, Alibaz-Oner F, Aksu K, Erken E, Düzgün N, Keser G, Cefle A, Yazici A, Ergen A, Alpsoy E, Salvarani C, Casali B, Kısacık B, Kötter I, Henes J, Çınar M, Schaefer A, Nohutcu RM, Zhernakova A, Wijmenga C, Takeuchi F, Harihara S, Kaburaki T, Messedi M, Song YW, Kaşifoğlu T, Carmona FD, Guthridge JM, James JA, Martin J, González Escribano MF, Saruhan-Direskeneli G, Direskeneli H, Sawalha AH. Genetic association of a gain of function interferon gamma receptor 1 (IFNGR1) polymorphism and the intergenic region LNCAROD/DKK1 with Behçet's disease. Arthritis Rheumatol, 2021 January, PMID: 33393726, PMCID: PMC8238846

Mytych JS, Pan Z, Farris AD. Efferocytosis and Anthrax: Implications for Bacterial Sepsis? J Cell Immunol 3:133-139, 2021 January, PMID: 34708219, PMCID: PMC8547791


Loading...

Our Model

Contact Us

Arthritis & Clinical Immunology Research Program
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 NE 13th Street, MS 53
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Phone: (405) 271-4987
Fax: (405) 271- 7063
Email:  judith-james@omrf.org