Exagen Inc., an organization dedicated to transforming the care continuum for patients suffering from debilitating and chronic autoimmune diseases by enabling timely differential diagnosis and optimizing therapeutic intervention, today announced a research collaboration with the University of Washington’s School of Medicine and Dr. Christian Lood, assistant professor of medicine, Division of Rheumatology. Dr. Lood studies the role of neutrophils in inflammation and autoimmunity with an emphasis on the contribution of neutrophils to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pathogenesis.
“Neutrophils are the main immune cells in the human
circulation, participating in host defense through
mechanisms including production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), phagocytosis and formation of
neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), a recently identified neutrophil cell death process in which DNA is
extruded together with cytoplasmic an
d granular content to trap and eliminate extracellular pathogens.
Although beneficial from a host
-pathogen perspective, exaggerated neutrophil activation and NET
formation has been linked to autoimmunity, particular
ly in SLE and RA
,” said Dr. Lood.
“We are excited to be working with Dr. Lood and his research regarding neutrophils and autoimmune
diseases such as SLE and RA. We believe Exagen’s support for this promising research demonstrates our
commitment to the advancement of clinical solutions for these complex and lifelong diseases
,” said Dr.
Thierry Dervieux, Chief Science Officer and Medical Director at Exagen.
As centers of autoimmune research such as the Universi
ty of Washington continue to study disease
processes for SLE and RA, Exagen supports such efforts through it
s focus on the development of more
effective tools to diagnose, prognose and monitor these diseases. CoMotion, the University of
Washington’s collab
orative innovation hub, supported Dr. Lood by filing the patent application
underlying Dr. Lood’s work brought into this collaboration, and participating in sponsored research
agreement negotiations.
About Exagen Inc.
Exagen is
dedicated to transforming the care continuum for patients suffering from debilitating and
chronic autoimmune diseases by enabling timely differential diagnosis and optimizing therapeutic
intervention.
Exagen has
developed and is
commercializing a portfolio of innovative testing pro
ducts
under
its
AVISE brand, several of which are based on our proprietary Cell
-Bound Complement
Activation
Products, or CB
-CAPs, technology. CB
-CAPs assess the activation of the complement
system, a biological
pathway that is widely implicated across many
autoimmune and autoimmune
-related diseases,
including systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE. Exagen’s
goal is to enable rheumatologists to improve
US-
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care for patients through the differential diagnosis, prognosis and
monitoring of complex autoimmune
and auto
immune
-related diseases, including SLE and rheumatoid
arthritis, or RA. Exagen’s
model of
integrating testing products and therapeutics positions Exagen
to offer
targeted solutions to
rheumatologists and, ultimately, better serve patients.
About the University of Washington
, School of Medicine
and CoMotion
Ranked by Re
uters as the No. 1 most innovative public university in the world
in 2018, the University of
Washington (UW) is a leading recipient of federal funding research, producing innovations that have the
power to change the world
