New CRE targets autoinflammatory disease

Hudson Institute’s reputation as a leader in inflammation research has been recognised with the establishment of a Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Autoinflammatory Disease Research.

Led by Hudson Institute’s, Professor Seth Masters and funded by the Federal Government’s National Health and Medical Research Council, the CRE will bring together some of the world’s foremost autoinflammatory disease experts, spanning the clinic, laboratory and patient advocacy. 

Autoinflammatory diseases are caused by an overactive innate immune system often as a result of changes in certain genes, autoinflammatory diseases are different from autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, which are caused by dysfunction of the adaptive immune system.

Recent advances in genetics have enabled scientists to identify the genetic changes responsible for many autoinflammatory diseases. This has allowed genetic tests to be developed to help with diagnosis.

Prof Masters said the new Centre aims to achieve improved patient outcomes by performing basic research to

• Implement novel biomarker detection methodology
• Validate gene variants of unknown significance
• Identify new pathways driving autoinflammation
• Develop more specifically targeted therapies.

Sharing resources to tackle autoinflammatory disease

“Over the last few years, the team has grown and unified through the development of the Australian Autoinflammatory Disease Registry which provides a national approach to the genetic and immunological evaluation of patients with suspected auto inflammatory syndromes.”

“That means we are now at the point where sharing resources, building knowledge through exchanges and, importantly, implementing patient input can lead to better health outcomes in these areas.”

Located at Hudson Institute, in Melbourne’s Monash Medical Precinct, the new CRE will bring together experts from prestigious institutions including WEHI, the Universities of Queensland and New South Wales, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, and major hospitals such as Monash Health, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Sydney Children’s Hospital.

Hudson Institute houses the largest group of inflammation and immunity researchers in Australia.

They are world leaders in studying the body’s innate, or first-line, immune response and how it and the microbiome trigger inflammation, leading to cancer, autoimmune conditions (lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis), lung (COPD, emphysema, silicosis) and infectious diseases (gastroenteritis, influenza, pneumonia).

Autoinflammatory disease explained

“One part of the human immune system is hardwired and innate, responding immediately to invading pathogens. This requires a system of sensors that detect pathogens or the damage that pathogens cause to the host. Unfortunately, gene alterations can lead to increased activation of these pathways causing autoinflammatory diseases. We learn from these gene variants how our innate immune system works, and how to target these inflammatory pathways to prevent disease. “ Prof Seth Masters