Immunopathology & Immunotherapy

Theofilopoulos and Baccala are confident that SLC15A4 is a potential target for a new SLE therapy. A drug that would target SLC15A4 could potentially suppress only the immune cells directly responsible for SLE, without affecting the rest of the immune system. The research team is currently trying to develop a new pharmacological compound capable of inhibiting the production of type 1 interferon. This inhibition would be possible if the expression of the SLC15A4 gene could be blocked.