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Environment and autoimmunity

To improve care and treatments for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) it is crucial to understand the processes underlying disease pathogenesis. Genetic and environmental factors are involved in the formation and constitution of the autoimmune response underlying RA and the development of disease. Therefore, we aim to identify these factors and to understand their contribution to the immunological processes driving disease onset and progression.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease hallmarked by the presence of autoantibodies. The reason why this autoimmune response emerges is unclear, but several lines of evidence indicate that genetic and environmental risk factors are at play in the induction of autoimmunity and development of disease. Therefore, understanding the contribution of these factors on the induction of the RA-specific autoantibody/autoimmune response is an important focus of our research. In this context, we perform both basic and translational research ranging from the (molecular) analyses of auto-antibody responses in clinically and genetically well defined cohorts of people that do- or do not (yet) have developed RA to the identification of e.g. microbial factors that are recognized by the RA-specific autoimmune response. This research has provided important insights into the role of genetic risk factors in shaping the autoimmune response in RA, such as the elucidation of the protective effect of the genetic factor HLA DRB1*13:01 in a large European collaboration, as well as on the interaction between genetic risk factors and smoking, an well-known environmental risk factor for the development of RA. Special emphasis is now given to the intestinal factors (food and microbes) as potential driving force behind the development of RA and its specific autoimmune response.