Chronic inflammation associated disorders (CIAD) like inflammatory bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and allergies are major health crises worldwide. CIADs cause chronic pain and physical impairment, severely affecting people’s quality of life, besides being tremendous societal and economic burdens. According to the American Autoimmune Related Disease Association, over 50 million, or 1 in 5, Americans are living with autoimmune diseases. They are in the top 10 leading causes of death for American women and typically cost the nation more than $100 billion in treatment costs each year. Current medical interventions are limited in efficacy; they primarily control inflammation and suppress immune responses. These conventional medications provide no permanent cure and often come with potentially harmful side effects. There is an utmost need to replace these conventional therapeutics. Advances in science and better understanding of underlying disease biology can potentially lead to the development of innovative and precision medicines for treating CIADs. Therefore, this collection will present several current cutting-edge technologies and approaches with focus on 1) novel methods to study therapeutic efficacy in CIADs, 2) development of 3D organoid cultures; 3) novel targets/strategies in anti-CIAD immunotherapy, and 4) methods advancing our understanding of CIADs.
Induction of Experimental Autoimmune Uveitis in mice and evaluation of disease severity based on clinical and histological parameters
Mary Mattapallil*1
1National Eye Institute, NIH