Zia Rahman, MD, PhD

Our research interest focuses on elucidating the molecular and cellular basis for the loss of immune self-tolerance, which promotes B cell responses in an autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus). My lab is interested in understanding the mechanisms that drive B cell differentiation in the extrafollicular antibody-forming cell (EF-AFC) and follicular germinal center (FO-GC) pathways in the generation of pathogenic and somatically mutated antinuclear antibody (ANA) production in SLE. My lab has pioneered in identifying the cell-intrinsic roles and mechanisms of autoimmunity-driven and spontaneously developed AFCs (Spt-AFCs) and germinal centers (Spt-GCs) in developing autoreactive B cells, autoantibody production and SLE pathogenesis using several SLE mouse models. We have generated various tissue-specific conditional and inducible conditional knockout systems on the SLE-prone mouse background to better understand the cell-intrinsic mechanisms by which various signaling pathways promote autoimmune B cell responses during systemic autoimmunity development. 

• Rahman Laboratory
• SKMC Profile