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Significant paper by Prof. Dr. D. L. Eizirik

08. January 2021



A team of researchers led by the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute Diabetes Center’s Scientific Director and ULB Professor Decio L. Eizirik, MD, PhD, WP3 lead in INNODIA, and supported by the IMI projects INNODIA and INNODIA Harvest, has found that identifying new treatments for autoimmune diseases requires studying together the immune system AND target tissues.
This study called ‘Gene expression signatures of target tissues in type 1 diabetes, lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis’ is featured in the Jan. 6, 2021, edition of Science Advances and can be downloaded here.

“We must move away from the present “immune-centric-only” view of autoimmune diseases,” explains Eizirik. “Indeed, trying to understand these diseases focusing on the immune system only, and forgetting the target tissues, may be similar to attempting to fly a plane with only one wing.”