DETROIT, December 22, 2000 - The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded nearly four million dollars for multiple, new autoimmune research projects.

      The funds, part of a $30 million 1999 allocation from Congress to NIH, involve the start-up of nine research projects. They range from piloting innovative new therapies for rheumatic and skin diseases and targeting organ damage in autoimmune disease to developing rat models of autoimmune disorders and creating NIAMS data registries of autoimmune patients.

      Autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, alopecia areata and many blistering skin diseases exact a huge toll in human suffering and economic costs, said NIAMS Director Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D. But wee recently witnessed exciting research advances in several of these, and we have every intention of pushing our knowledge base further.

      The announcement of these new projects follow other recent NIH initiatives to push autoimmunity to the top of the national research agenda, including a report issued by NIH Office of Research on Women Health entitled, Agenda for Research on Women Health for the 21st Century.

      Over the past decade, NIH has been instrumental in the growing recognition of autoimmunity as a major women health issue and category of diseases, like cancer and heart disease, with the same underlying cause - autoimmunity, said Virginia T. Ladd, president and executive director of American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association. Traditionally, autoimmune diseases have been considered individually, rather than collectively, and thus, rare.

      By naming autoimmunity a top research priority, NIH has helped place autoimmunity in its proper perspective as a major cause of disability and chronic illness among women in the childbearing years, affecting as many as 30 million American women.

      To increase collaboration and communication among organizations stimulating and supporting autoimmune research, an NIH Autoimmune Diseases Coordinating Committee was established in May 1998. AARDA, NIAMS and other NIH institutes and voluntary health organizations are represented on the committee, along with other federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Veteran Administration and several private organizations.

      Autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, scleroderma and autoimmune hepatitis are caused by immunity against one own body. It is the process whereby the immune system mistakenly recognizes the body own proteins as foreign invaders and produces antibodies that attack healthy cells and tissues, causing various diseases.