National Coalition Awards Seven Researchers $1 Million to Study Common Autoimmune Disease Mechanisms
Three major nonprofit organizations have awarded $1.05 million to seven researchers investigating shared mechanisms underlying autoimmune diseases, including one University of Colorado Anschutz researcher who will study how immune system checkpoints fail in conditions affecting over 50 million Americans.
Breakthrough T1D, the Lupus Research Alliance, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society announced September 25 the recipients of the Common Mechanisms of Autoimmunity Insight Award, with each researcher receiving up to $150,000 for one-year pilot studies. The collaborative initiative aims to accelerate treatment development by understanding commonalities across type 1 diabetes, lupus, and multiple sclerosis.
Dr. Elena Hsieh of the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine received one of the awards to investigate how B cells, which normally protect against infections, can trigger autoimmune diseases when safety mechanisms fail. Hsieh, an associate professor in pediatrics and immunology who conducts research at the Allergy and Immunology Center at Children's Hospital Colorado, will study these cellular checkpoints to identify why some people develop autoimmunity and potential intervention strategies.
According to the National Institutes of Health, autoimmune diseases impact over 50 million people in the United States, with more than 80 distinct conditions causing the immune system to mistakenly attack the body's own cells. Additionally, 25% of individuals with one autoimmune disease are likely to develop a second condition.
The $150,000 award amount aligns with standard foundation pilot grants, comparable to the annual maximum for federal NIH R21 grants of $200,000 per year. Data from the National Institutes of Health shows that only 10-15% of funded pilot studies advance to full-scale clinical trials, with typical timelines from pilot study to Phase I human trials ranging from three to seven years.
The University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine has emerged as a national leader in autoimmune research, housing the Autoimmune Disease Prevention Center and recently receiving a $2 million endowed chair from the Céline Dion Foundation to advance research in autoimmune neurological disorders, according to the university.
Other award recipients include researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, University of Chicago, St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Virginia School of Medicine, and Yale School of Medicine. Their projects range from testing molecules that help immune cells infiltrate organs to developing blood tests for detecting disease-causing T cells.
"Autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, lupus, and multiple sclerosis each have unique symptoms, but the mechanisms driving the underlying imbalance of the immune system are the same," said Joshua Vieth, Senior Director of Research at Breakthrough T1D. "By working together to advance our collective understanding of autoimmunity, we can reduce gaps in knowledge, redundancy in funding efforts between the organizations, and ultimately, the time it takes for new therapies to benefit the individuals living with these autoimmune diseases."
The program, initially launched in 2019, previously funded research that has provided insights into promising pathways for targeting each disease. One first-round recipient, Dr. Alexandra-Chloé Villani of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, developed single-cell strategies to understand immune response regulation as a foundation for understanding autoimmune disease development.
"This cross-sector work will help push us beyond what's known in the world of autoimmunity," said Maya Bader, Director of Research at the Lupus Research Alliance.
The collaborative funding approach represents an effort to eliminate redundant research efforts across diseases while identifying shared therapeutic targets that could benefit multiple patient populations simultaneously.