Alan Lazarus

Research Synopsis

My research is understanding how therapeutic antibodies can be used to treat autoimmune disease.

We study the ability of novel monoclonal antibodies, as well as antibodies taken from the plasma of healthy blood donors (IVIg) to inhibit disease progression in autoimmunity.

We also study how an antibody called "anti-D" is able to prevent haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn.

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is a blood product derived from the plasma of healthy blood donors and has been used for more than 25 years to treat a number of different autoimmune diseases.

Although the exact mechanism of action of IVIg has remained elusive, work from our laboratory has taken aim at developing a good understanding as to how IVIg successfully treats autoimmunity.

Two diseases that we study include:

1. an autoimmune disease to platelets called immune thrombocytopenia (ITP)
2. a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis.

We have found that specific monoclonal antibodies can replace IVIg in the treatment of autoimmune disease and we are studying these antibodies.

Potential graduate students can work on the discovery of new monoclonal antibodies to treat autoimmune disease as well as work on understanding mechanisms of action of some of the antibodies which we have recently discovered in our laboratory.

Hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) is a very severe disease that can occur if a mother who does not express the "rhesus D antigen (RhD)" on her red blood cells becomes pregnant with a RhD-positive child.  

HDFN can be effectively avoided in these situations by administration of an antibody derived from the plasma of blood donors called anti-D. In fact, the routine administration of anti-D to rhesus D-negative mothers pregnant with a D-positive child is one of the most powerful applications of antibody-based immunotherapy for a human disease.

Unfortunately, we do not know how anti-D prevents HDFN! We are studying how anti-D prevents HDFN (in murine models) and attempting to come up with a recombinant product to avoid injecting healthy mothers with a blood-product (anti-D) that is taken from the plasma of thousands of blood-donors.

Potential graduate students can work on how antibodies with anti-D-like properties can inhibit the immune response to red blood cells as well as work on helping us find new antibodies to prevent immunization to red blood cells.