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Unraveling the autoimmune translational research process layer by layer

Nature Medicine volume 18, pages 35–41 (2012)Cite this article

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Autoimmune diseases have a complex etiology and despite great progress having been made in our comprehension of these disorders, there has been limited success in the development of approved medications based on these insights. Development of drugs and strategies for application in translational research and medicine are hampered by an inadequate molecular definition of the human autoimmune phenotype and the organizational models that are necessary to clarify this definition.

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Figure 1: Yearly therapeutic approval of drugs and biologics by the FDA between 2006 and 2011.
Figure 2: Operational challenges for translational research and medicine.
Figure 3: Tissue banks in autoimmunity-related translational research.
Figure 4: An organizational model for translational research and medicine in autoimmunity: the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital and King's College London.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank T. Rath, C. Pola and L. Paradiso for assistance in assembling data related to recent approvals of therapeutic agents in autoimmunity and assembling the manuscript. R.S.B. was supported by US National Institutes of Health grants DK44319, DK53056, DK51362, DK88199 and the Harvard Digestive Diseases Center (grant DK34854). F.O.N. is supported by a Senior Investigator award of the National Institutes of Health Research, Wellcome Trust Programme grant GR078173MA, Medical Research Council UK Programme grant G0601387 and the UK Department of Health via the National Institute for Health Research comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre award to Guy's & St. Thomas' National Health Service Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Richard S. Blumberg is at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.,

    Richard S Blumberg

  2. Bonnie Dittel is at the Blood Center of Wisconsin.,

    Bonnie Dittel

  3. David Hafler is at the Department of Neurology and Immunobiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.,

    David Hafler

  4. Matthias von Herrath is at the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology, La Jolla, California, USA.,

    Matthias von Herrath

  5. Frank O. Nestle is at the St. John's Institute of Dermatology, King's College London and National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.,

    Frank O Nestle

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Correspondence to Richard S Blumberg.

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Blumberg, R., Dittel, B., Hafler, D. et al. Unraveling the autoimmune translational research process layer by layer. Nat Med 18, 35–41 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2632

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