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Show SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS NeilXia Hong Hau Mu 136 STUDYING THE IMMUNOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS OF ARTHRITIS Neil Xia (Hong Hua Mu) Department of Internal Medicine University of Utah Currently, there exist treatments to help patients afflicted with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). However, often these treatments aim to alleviate the symptoms of RA; thus, these symptoms will often reoccur despite effective initial responses. This study aims to better understand h o w RA develops and what immune system pathways are initiated that lead to joint inflammation. By measuring the expression of genes and proteins and comparing it to cytokine levels, it gives a strong indication of h o w cells are communicating and how this affects activity on a cellular level. A particular mycoplasma, M. Arthritidis, which produces a super antigen known as MAM is known to cause the onset of arthritis. A mouse model is used to study the disease; the mice are observed every other day for 3 weeks after the injection to monitor their development of joint inflammation as well as susceptibility to toxic shock. Afterward, the blood sera is collected to run on cytokine assays to measure specific signal protein concentration levels such as interleukins.The organ tissue is used to measure gene expression using real-time PCR and to measure internal expression of proteins using flow cytometry. Gene expression and cytokine concentrations, greater insight is given of where certain pathways are being inhibited and stimulated. Whereas, the internal expression of proteins allows those effects to be correlated to the activities of specific cell types. By realizing new signal pathways of which the disease affects, a better understanding of how Rheumatoid Arthritis develops through the body can aid the progression of future treatments by providing more approaches in which the disease can be inhibited, if not cured. B03 p1 0p9 + Treatment PLN Gate: P1 i mill 11 mil 11 IIIII i niiifi mill I »2 „3 „4 „S tfi »7-2 F 0 X P 3 Alexa 488-A B02p10p9PLN Gate: P1 FOX P3 Alexa 488-A Linear Fit F O X P3 Alexa 488-A Y = Intercept + Slope " X Intercept = 0.049 , Slope - 0.000 RMS = 0 005, r = 0.996, r2 = 0.995, J |