Our group focuses on human inflammatory diseases that affect the lungs, including sarcoidosis and asthma.
Our group focuses on human inflammatory diseases that affect the lungs, including sarcoidosis and asthma. Key investigators include Carmen Swaisgood, PhD.
Sarcoidosis, a granulomatous inflammatory disease of unknown etiology, often involves the lung. We study mediators that modulate macrophage activation, focusing on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ). In addition, we are developing a antigenspecific murine model of sarcoidosis.
We are currently studying relevant PPARγ targets in sarcoidosis subjects and the genetic polymorphisms that may contribute to regulation of these targets in sarcoidosis. Our data from both humans and murine models suggest important roles for several matrix metalloproteinases in this process. These studies overlap with studies of asthma, which demonstrate the importance of the plasminogen system on both inflammation and extracellular matrix remodeling in the ovalbumin murine model of asthma.
