Nancy L Monson
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
In the United States, multiple sclerosis (MS) tends to be more severe and progress faster in African American and Hispanic patients than in White patients. MS is a disease in which the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
multiple sclerosis
neuroinflammation
B cells
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Test whether plasmablasts, antibody-secreting cells derived from B cells and expanded in African American and Hispanic patients with multiple sclerosis, make antibodies that bind to neurons.
- Determine in a mouse model whether antibodies or inflammatory products from these patients' plasmablasts cause neuronal toxicity and worsen disease.
- Examine whether plasmablast-driven CNS inflammation in minority MS patients occurs independently of genetic ancestry, to explain their faster and more severe disease progression.
More about the research
Its incidence is rising in these communities. Yet little is known about the biology behind their worse outcomes, and concerns have been raised that these patients respond poorly to first-line therapies. The long-term goal is to help prevent neurological damage in all MS patients by finding which inflammatory processes in the central nervous system (CNS) drive faster, more severe disease.
Why it matters
African American and Hispanic patients with multiple sclerosis often face more severe and faster-progressing disease. This project could help explain why. If neuron-damaging antibodies from plasmablasts are involved, the findings could support future diagnostic and predictive tools. Such tools could forecast treatment response, relapse or progression in these patients and inform more effective care.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Neda Sattarnezhad Oskouei
Stanford University, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Characterize multiple sclerosis patient cohorts with proteomic analysis of anti-EBV antibodies and nerve-damage markers, to test how mimicry between EBV proteins such as EBNA1 and the brain protein GlialCAM drives MS.
Lauren B Krupp
New York University, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Develop culturally sensitive research instruments for measuring childhood adversity, together with people with multiple sclerosis from Black, Hispanic and poverty-affected communities and community engagement partners.
Igal Ifergan
University of Cincinnati, OH·Microbiology & Immunology
Characterize mature (CD27- CD11b+) and immature (CD27+ CD11b-) natural killer cell subsets in the brain and spinal cord across stages of relapsing-remitting EAE, a mouse model of MS, using single-cell RNA sequencing.
The school
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: 40 labs on PI Pages, $869M a year on research, 86 research doctorates a year.
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