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Immune-mediated inflammation across disease boundaries: breaking down research silos

Nature Immunology volume 22, pages 1344–1348 (2021)Cite this article

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If new treatments for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are to emerge, then a radical new approach that moves the field from one that is based on clinical signs and symptoms to one that is based on immunological and molecular mechanisms is urgently needed. This requires a new way of thinking: that IMIDs should be approached as having shared common pathogenic cells and pathways, and that therapies should be targeted at these cells and processes rather than clinical features.

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Fig. 1: Commonalities in autoimmune diseases.
Fig. 2: The need for a mechanistic marker to explore shared versus specific pathways in IMIDs.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Christopher D. Buckley

  2. The Lorna and Yuti Chernajovsky Biomedical Research Foundation, Whitstable, UK

    Lorna Chernajovsky, Yuti Chernajovsky & Paul P. Tak

  3. Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Yuti Chernajovsky

  4. Immunology Research, GSK, Stevenage, UK

    Louise K. Modis

  5. School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Luke A. O’Neill

  6. British Society for Immunology, London, UK

    Doug Brown

  7. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, London, UK

    Rachel Connor

  8. Multiple Sclerosis Society, London, UK

    David Coutts

  9. Versus Arthritis, Chesterfield, UK

    Elizabeth A. Waterman

  10. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Paul P. Tak

  11. Candel Therapeutics, Needham, Massachusetts, USA

    Paul P. Tak

  12. Multimorbidity Steering Group, Strategic Priorities Fund, Swindon, UK

    Paul P. Tak

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  1. Christopher D. Buckley
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Correspondence to Yuti Chernajovsky.

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Competing interests

C.D.B. is a founder of Mestag with founding equity (https://mestagtherapeutics.com). L.K.M. is an employee and has shares in GSK. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Buckley, C.D., Chernajovsky, L., Chernajovsky, Y. et al. Immune-mediated inflammation across disease boundaries: breaking down research silos. Nat Immunol 22, 1344–1348 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-021-01044-7

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