University of Tokyo researchers and colleagues at the RIKEN Research Institute have compiled a first-of-its-kind genetic database for autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. It’s hoped that the resource will offer up new insights into how immune disorders develop, and potentially aid in drug discovery. Scientists also hope that the atlas of immune-related genome data may eventually be applied to investigations of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.
“To understand diseases, a deep comprehension of the function of genetic variants is essential,” said University of Tokyo project research associate Mineto Ota, MD, PhD, a clinical rheumatologist and expert in functional genomics.
