The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has announced further details regarding its multimillion initiative to develop new ways of inducing immune tolerance.
Transplant News Network first reported on the project on June 15, 1999, after it was announced by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. On October 6, the NIAID issued a statement saying that the Collaborative Network for Clinical Research on Immune Tolerance will consume $144 million over seven years and will involve about 40 research institutions internationally. The NIAID is expected to fund $130 million of the project, and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International (JDF) will supply $14 million. Another cosponsor is the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD, director of the Ben May Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago, has been named director of the project.
"This represents one of the largest NIH awards for clinical research and the first program for cross-disciplinary research on immune tolerance," said Daniel Rotrosen, MD, director of the NIAID's Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation.
"Recent tests of tolerogenic approaches to induce immune tolerance have shown promising results in both laboratory animal models and early human clinical studies. Network researchers will accelerate testing of these and other tolerogenic approaches and will develop and evaluate methods to monitor the induction, maintenance, and loss of immune tolerance in humans," the NIAID said. The trials are expected to initially focus on ways to induce immune tolerance for kidney and pancreatic islet cell transplantation and for a number of autoimmune diseases, including diabetes.
For Your Information:
NIAID and JDF news release:
www.niaid.nih.gov/newsroom/immunetol.htmAdditional information from JDF:
www.jdf.org/pubinfo/chicago2.html
principal investigators: www.jdf.org/pubinfo/chicago3.html
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