A Cleveland Clinic researcher has received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study why lupus is so much more prevalent in females than males.
Trine Jorgensen, a researcher in the Clinic’s Department of Immunology, was one of two researchers nationally to receive a DoD grant for lupus research, according to a statement from the Lupus Foundation of America. The other grant, for $1.2 million, went to a researcher with Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can cause inflammation, pain and damage in various parts of the body. It’s estimated to affect 1.5 million people in the U.S., primarily women of child-bearing age. In autoimmune disorders, the immune system can’t tell the difference between viruses or bacteria, for example, and the body’s healthy tissues. That results in the immune system attacking and destroying those healthy tissues.
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Nine out of 10 people with lupus are female, a disparity that scientists have thus far been unable to explain, according to a statement from the Clinic.
Jorgensen’s research will explore the role a set of immune system-suppressing cells play in the disease’s development.
Studying lupus has become a greater priority for the DoD as more females enroll in the military.