Jane E Salmon

The goal of Dr. Salmon's research is to identify predictors and determinants of disease phenotype in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and related diseases, and to thereby identify targets for therapy. In SLE and other autoimmune diseases, autoantibodies and immune complexes initiate inflammation and organ damage through receptors for IgG and complement activation products. The laboratory investigates downstream mediators and effector mechanisms of tissue injury. Their basic, translational and clinical studies have led to a paradigm shift in the understanding of mechanisms of pregnancy loss, cardiovascular disease and nephritis in patients with SLE. This work to define pathogenic mechanisms in SLE is likely to translate to non-autoimmune patients.

Dr. Salmon's laboratory defined structure-function relationships among human receptors for IgG, key effectors in immune complex diseases and showed that allelic variants were risk factors for nephritis. She led the first case-control study to define prevalence and clinical correlates of pre-clinical atherosclerosis in SLE and found accelerated and premature disease, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, rather related to inflammation. The laboratory is currently pioneering efforts to target endothelial cells to limit immune complex-mediated injury in experimental models and translate their findings to patients.

Building on her discovery that innate immune pathways, complement, neutrophils and TNF-α, are critical effectors of pregnancy complications in mouse models, she led an NIH-funded, multi-center 11 year prospective longitudinal study of 700 pregnant patients to identify predictors of pregnancy outcomes in patients with lupus and/or anti-phospholipid syndrome. The laboratory is probing circulating biomarkers (angiogenic factors, transcriptome profiling, etc.) that are early predictors of poor pregnancy outcomes. In addition, they are using machine learning with large prospective lupus pregnancy cohorts to create a real-world algorithm to guide risk stratification. To directly apply her discoveries to patients, Dr. Salmon has embarked on the first interventional trial of biologic therapy to protect pregnancies at high risk for preeclampsia, an approach likely to have broad public health implications.