Daniel H. Kaplan, MD, PhD

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

2005 General Immune System Function

With LRI funding, Dr. Kaplan set out to engineer a lupus-prone strain of mice that lacks a recently identified cell-the Plasmacytoid Dendritic cell-that is the primary source of interferon alpha early in infection, and that has recently been implicated in the development and promotion of lupus.

By developing a strain of mice that lacks this cell type and observing whether the development of lupus is attenuated, Dr. Kaplan's work could lead to more refined lupus treatments.

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