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Why is Inflammatory Disease Research Important?

For healthy individuals, the immune system effectively identifies unwelcome microorganisms and unhealthy cells to purge them from the host. However, for individuals suffering from an inflammatory disease, the immune system is malfunctioning and attacking healthy cells and tissues. There are hundreds of inflammatory diseases, some of the more commonly known ones include asthma, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

Cures for many of these diseases remain undiscovered, and better treatments to make the disease manageable and extend the patient’s longevity are needed. To make these discoveries possible, scientists need access to technologically advanced, powerful research solutions.

Cytek Solutions Enable the World’s Most Cutting Edge Inflammatory Disease Research.

Explore the case studies below to see how.
CASE STUDY

Multiple Sclerosis Research at UIUC

In Dr. Makoto Inoue’s research lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), researchers are trying to determine how environmental triggers and early life trauma (ELT) impact long-term outcomes for individuals suffering from multiple sclerosis. Using a mouse model for experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and a healthy control model, they raised mice and exposed part of each population to ELT. Blood, bone marrow, and a variety of body tissues were characterized using cellular, proteomic, and genomic tools like immunohistochemistry, western blotting, flow cytometry with Cytek’s Aurora, ELISA, qPCR, and more.

They found that ELT alters immune cell phenotypes in EAE-stricken mice and discovered factors that may enable them to predict long-term outcomes for individuals with multiple sclerosis.

For more information about this research, read Makato’s publication.

Research Workflow

The Cytek Aurora is key in step 4 of Makoto’s research process, in which it is used to measure cell frequencies and phenotypes.
CASE STUDY

Autoimmunity Research at Stanford University

Tobias Lanz and Katherine Murphy in Dr. William Robinson’s research group at Stanford University explored expression levels of immune checkpoint receptors for autoimmune disease therapies. The scientists developed multiple high-parameter flow cytometry panels for the Cytek Aurora to characterize and compare immune cell phenotypes across healthy individuals, multiple sclerosis patients, and lupus patients. They found differences between the three groups, specifically differences in receptors expressed in some T cell and B cell subsets that could be viable targets for new therapeutics.

For more information about this research, read Tobias’s publication.

Research Workflow

The Cytek Aurora is key in step 3 of Tobias’s research workflow to immunophenotype immune cells in healthy and diseased individuals

Looking for more examples of how Cytek’s solutions are used in inflammatory disease research?