Jian Zhang, MD

University of Chicago, IL

2006 Signaling

In lupus, a defect develops in the body's T cells, which are designed to attack all foreign cells. Dr. Zhang's laboratory has found that mice who produce too much of a certain inhibitory protein in T cells (c-FLIP) develop a syndrome that resembles lupus in humans. With the LRI grant, Dr. Zhang will study and further describe the cellular and molecular mechanisms that prompt these disease-related changes—as well as identify new molecules that might serve as targets for lupus drugs.

Select publications:

Altered thymic selection by overexpressing cellular FLICE inhibitory protein in T cells causes lupus-like syndrome in a BALB/c but not C57BL/6 strain. Qiao G, Li Z, Minto AW, Shia J, Yang L, Bao L, Tschopp J, Gao JX, Wang J, Quigg RJ, Zhang J. Cell Death and differentiation. 2009 Oct 9.

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