Research

The department nurtures an interactive approach between clinical and basic science to create knowledge. We study the interrelated molecular, cellular and genetic regulatory mechanisms that dictate the immune responses associated with a wide spectrum of systemic autoimmune diseases. Our current areas of research include

  1. Immunogenetics & Immunopathogenesis
  2. Infections & autoimmunity
  3. Biomarker discovery
  4. Digital health
  5. Epidemiological studies of autoimmune rheumatic diseases

Ongoing Projects

  1. A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter phase 3 study to evaluate efficacy, safety, and tolerability of Ianalumab on top of standard of care in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus
  2. Antinuclear antibodi Immunofluorescence patterns in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Diagnostic and Prognostic Evaluation using Artificial Inteligence
  3. The SLE outcomes Study – SOS

Completed projects for last five years

  1. Effect of cyclophosphamide based treatment regimen on type 1 interferon signatures in proliferative lupus nephritis
  2. INSPIRE Project: A multiinstitutional cohort of SLE: Understanding the diversity of SLE
  3. Humanistic and economic burden of rheumatoid arthritis (HERA) study
  4. Helminth immunomodulation in Rheumatoid arthritis-understanding the role of human monocytes.

    List of Publications Pubmed indexed journals : Click Here

    Recent Research Publications

    1. Bulusu SN, Bavikatte AN, Shah S, Murthy SSN, Kommoju V, Mariaselvam CM, Kavadichanda C, Vembar SS, Thabah MM, Negi VS. Renal and Peripheral Blood Transcriptome Signatures That Predict Treatment Response in Proliferative Lupus Nephritis-A Prospective Study. . 2025 Jan 28. doi: 10.1111/imm.13891. Online ahead of print.PMID: 39875315
    2. Gorijavolu M, Kavadichanda CG, Gopal A, Ananthakrishnan R, Naik D, Mariaselvam CM, Thabah MM, Negi VS. Findings on serial thigh MRI can identify individuals with inflammatory myositis who recover sub-optimally: A 6-month follow-up study. J R Coll Physicians Edinb. 2024 Dec;54(4):290-297. doi: 10.1177/14782715241300850. Epub 2024 Nov 23.PMID: 39579027
    3. Ramesh R, Sundaresh A, Rajkumar RP, Negi VS, Vijayalakshmi MA, Kamalanathan AS Occurrence of protease-like catalytic activity in the polyclonal IgG in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 14;14(1):27970. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-75200-y.PMID: 39543211 Free PMC article.
    4. Bulusu SN, Mariaselvam CM, Shah S, Kommoju V, Kavadichanda C, Harichandrakumar KT, Thabah M, Negi VS Type I interferon gene expression signature as a marker to predict response to cyclophosphamide based treatment in proliferative lupus nephritis. 2024 Sep;33(10):1069-1081. doi: 10.1177/09612033241266779. Epub 2024 Jul 20.PMID: 39033304
    5. Kommoju V, Mariaselvam CM, Bulusu SN, Michael BNR, Kavadichanda C, Thabah MM, Negi VS Rheumatoid arthritis autologous synovial fluid affects the plasticity and function of peripheral and induced T regulatory cells in vitro. Immunol Lett. 2024 Jun;267:106859. doi: 10.1016/j.imlet.2024.106859. Epub 2024 Apr 25.PMID: 38670465
    6. Mariaselvam CM, Seth G, Kavadichanda C, Boukouaci W, Wu CL, Costes B, Thabah MM, Krishnamoorthy R, Leboyer M, Negi VS, Tamouza R Low C4A copy numbers and higher HERV gene insertion contributes to increased risk of SLE, with absence of association with disease phenotype and disease activity. Immunol Res. 2024 Aug;72(4):697-706. doi: 10.1007/s12026-024-09475-8. Epub 2024 Apr 10.PMID: 38594415
    7. Kommoju V, Mariaselvam CM, Bulusu SN, Ganapathy CK, Narasimhan PB, Thabah MM, Negi VS Conventional Tregs in treatment-naïve rheumatoid arthritis are deficient in suppressive function with an increase in percentage of CXCR3 and CCR6 expressing Tregs. Immunol Res. 2024 Jun;72(3):396-408. doi: 10.1007/s12026-023-09444-7. Epub 2023 Dec 27.PMID: 38151700
    8. Gopal A, Kavadichanda C, Gayathri MS, Gorijavolu M, Bairwa D, Mariaselvam CM, Srinivas BH, Thabah MM, Negi VS. Kidney histopathology in predicting flares following drug withdrawal in proliferative lupus nephritis in clinical remission. Rheumatol Int. 2024 Dec;44(12):2885-2889. doi: 10.1007/s00296-023-05497-x. Epub 2023 Nov 21.PMID: 37987842 Clinical Trial.
    9. Michael BNR, Mariaselvam CM, Kavadichanda CG, Negi VS. Synovial-fluid-derived microparticles express vimentin and GRP78 in their surface and exhibit an in vitro stimulatory effect on fibroblast-like synoviocytes in rheumatoid arthritis. Int J Rheum Dis. 2023 Nov;26(11):2183-2194. doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.14912. Epub 2023 Sep 11.PMID: 37695005
    Last Updated :14-Feb-2025