Welcome to the Cairns Lab

Our laboratory is interested in rheumatic autoimmune diseases. Specifically, our current research focuses on the pathogenesis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). We are studying the role of MHC class II molecules as well as auto-antigens (e.g.citrullinated proteins) in the development of this disease. Our research is performed using human RA clinical specimens and humanized (MHC class II) tg mice as animal model for RA.

Recent Publications:

Hill JA, Bell DA, Brintnell W, Yue D, Wehrli B, Jevnikar AM, Lee DM,Hueber W, Robinson WH, and Cairns E.  2008 Arthritis induced byposttranslationally modified (citrullinated) fibrinogen in DR4-IEtransgenic mice.  J Exp Med. 205(4):967-79.

Hill JA, Wang D, CAIRNS E, Bell DA. The relationship between predicted peptide-MHC class II affinity and T cell activation in HLA-DRB1*0401 transgenic mouse model. Arthritis Research 5:40-48, 2002.

Hill JA, Sette A, Jevnikar AM, Bell DA, Cairns E.  The conversion of arginine to citrulline allows for high affinity peptide interaction with the Rheumatoid Arthritis associated HLA-DRB1*0401 MHC class II molecules. Immunology (Cutting Edge), 171:538-541,2003.

Hill J, Cairns E, Bell DA. The Joy of Citrulline: New insights into the diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Journal of Rheumatology,31:1471-1473, 2004.

Hill JA, Al-Bishri J, Gladman DD, Cairns E, Bell DA. Serum Autoantibodies that Bind Citrullinated Fibrinogen are Frequently Found in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. J Rheumatol., 33:2115-2119, 2006.