Commonalities in autoimmune disease leading to mechanism, biomarker and therapeutic target discovery

Autoimmune diseases, in which the immune system erroneously targets the body’s own tissues, include conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS), and type 1 diabetes (T1D) and are estimated to affect 5–8% of the population. Current treatments are not curative, focused instead on symptom management and slowing disease progression. The multifactorial nature of these diseases, the largely undefined etiology, heterogeneity in clinical manifestations, and discordance between clinical assessment tools and biological processes have contributed to the variable effectiveness of existing treatments.New ideas and approaches are needed to advance fundamental understanding of autoimmune diseases and develop more efficacious therapeutics. The mission of this research topic is to provide space and a forum for researchers, clinicians and patients to identify commonalities across autoimmune diseases, present the development therapeutic strategies, and facilitate innovative solutions to global autoimmune disease health challenges.This Research Topic explores the molecular, genetic, and immunological commonalities that predispose individuals to multiple concurrent autoimmune conditions (polyautoimmunity), and what these shared mechanisms reveal about prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.Key angles to invite submissions on, but not limited to:• Shared genetic susceptibility loci (e.g., HLA associations, PTPN22, STAT4) across autoimmune diseases• Common dysregulated immune pathways (Th17/Treg imbalance, type I interferon signatures, B-cell hyperactivity)• Clinical clustering patterns: autoimmune thyroiditis with type 1 diabetes, lupus with Sjögren’s, rheumatoid arthritis with celiac disease...• Autoantibody cross-reactivity and epitope spreading as drivers of multi-autoimmune syndromes• Biomarkers predicting progression from single to polyautoimmunity• Therapeutic implications: can targeting shared pathways (e.g., JAK inhibitors, B-cell depletion) treat multiple autoimmune conditions simultaneously?We are interested in manuscript that address novel avenues of research in autoimmune diseases. Contributions can be research articles, reviews, commentaries and opinion pieces that address the commonalities across diseases and fill the gaps in biomedical and clinical research. Articles that speak to patient and clinician perspectives will be considered and encouraged. Informative note on conflict of interest: Dr. MC Consulting fees for MitogenDx, Werfen, AbbVie, Biogen, and AstraZeneca Topic editors: Marc S. Horwitz, Kelly L Brown, May Yee Choi Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84760/commonalities-in-autoimmune-disease-leading-to-mechanism-biomarker-and-therapeutic-target-discovery