Mass General IgG4-related Disease Center
An autoimmune center of excellence for the study of IgG4-related disease
This center follows people with IgG4-related disease to learn how immune cells, antibodies, and the microbiome drive flare-ups and remissions.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Massachusetts General Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11323975 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join, doctors will follow you over time and collect blood, stool, and sometimes tissue samples to track changes before, during, and after treatment. The team will measure autoantibodies, identify antigen-specific B and T cells, and compare immune profiles using protein arrays, ELISAs, and specialized immunoprecipitation tests. They will also look at the gut microbiome for microbes that might trigger immune cross-reactions and study how patients respond to B-cell depletion therapies as they go into remission and later relapse. All of this is done to pinpoint what starts and sustains disease and to find markers that could warn of relapse or guide therapy.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Adults diagnosed with IgG4-related disease, including those untreated, undergoing B-cell depletion, in remission, or experiencing relapse and willing to provide blood, stool, and sometimes tissue samples, are ideal candidates.
Not a fit: People without IgG4-related disease, those unwilling or unable to provide samples or travel for visits, or those seeking immediate therapeutic benefit may not gain from participating.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help predict flares, personalize treatments like B-cell therapies, and point to new targets to prevent or better control IgG4-related disease.
How similar studies have performed: B-cell depletion therapies (for example, rituximab) have produced strong clinical remissions in IgG4-related disease, while the proposed comprehensive immune and microbiome profiling builds on that success and is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Massachusetts General Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Pillai, Shiv Subramaniam — Massachusetts General Hospital
- Study coordinator: Pillai, Shiv Subramaniam
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.