Cunningham Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2024

The Role of Estrogen Receptor Alpha Variant Size and Localization in Modulating TLR7-Induced Inflammation

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is one of many autoimmune diseases that disproportionately affects females. Although many risk factors for lupus are identified: >170 genes including GPR174, myriad environmental exposures, and aberrant X chromosome inactivation, none of these sufficiently explain the steep rise in incidence of ADs at the time of puberty in a female-specific manner. Epidemiology suggests a major role for sex hormones and their receptors in autoimmune diseases. We previously showed that female lupus-prone mice, expressing only a short form of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα short), have significantly reduced renal disease and increased survival. Determining the mechanism of…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.