Daniel Zegarra-Ruiz, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, & Cancer Biology and Resident Member of the Carter Immunology Center, received a $600,000 Empowering Lupus Research Program grant award from the Lupus Research Alliance. Autoimmune diseases like lupus affect over 200 million people worldwide and are predominantly experienced by women under 65, especially those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Still, current treatments focus on alleviating symptoms rather than addressing the root causes of these diseases. His project, “The Role of Intestinal Host-Microbe Interactions in Lupus Pathogenesis,” aims to understand how gut bacteria can modulate the intestinal environment in lupus, affect disease progression, and elucidate how diet can change these factors.
Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune condition that causes chronic inflammation in multiple organs, leading to fatigue, joint pain, and kidney problems that can lead to early death. “Lupus is difficult to diagnose because it can camouflage as several other autoimmune conditions. Moreover, two patients can have very different presentations,” Zegarra-Ruiz said. “These diverse presentation also make lupus difficult to treat.” Interestingly, lupus affects different demographic groups at different rates. “African American, Hispanic, and Asian women tend to develop more severe lupus, even when you correct for medical access. This leads us to consider environmental factors like diet and gut microbiome in disease progression,” he explained.
Driven by his interest in autoimmune conditions that stem from a family health history and early career research experiences, Zegarra-Ruiz is a new faculty member at UVA, representing a culmination of over ten years of training in lupus and mucosal immunology. He and his team will study the gut microbiome’s role in lupus development and progression, research that could lead to safer and more effective treatments for lupus patients. Zegarra-Ruiz previously found that disease-promoting bacteria can alter the proteins that regulate the flow of molecules through the gaps between intestinal cells, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Similarly, he showed that gut bacteria can migrate to other organs, but how this movement contributes to disease progression is not yet known. Finally, there is evidence that certain nutrients can mitigate these effects, but it is unclear how changes in diet can change lupus outcomes. The Zegarra-Ruiz team will pursue these research avenues with the long-term goal of providing the basis for personalized treatments to improve patients’ quality of life.