Susanna Kullberg

The goal of this application is to resolve the aetiology of the inflammatory disease sarcoidosis and to identify clinically relevant markers for improved diagnosis and prognosis. Today, around 16.000 individuals in Sweden live with sarcoidosis, with about 1.200 to 1.500 new patients added yearly. Patients usually suffer from airway problems but also experience more general symptoms like fatigue. In fact, symptoms vary from patient to patient, depending on which organs are engaged. There is no specific treatment and oral steroids that are usually applied have well-known and severe side effects. Hopefully, our studies may point out new targets for treatments.Studies of the immune system indicated the existence of specific antigens and in collaboration with prof A Fontenot, Denver, we recently identified such a candidate antigen, ie. an enzyme found in the fungus Aspergillus Nidulans (published in J Exp Med). We are now studying the functional aspects of this fungus.Our group is well-established also internationally, e.g. the applicant served for 10 years as General Secretary of WASOG, the international organization for sarcoidosis research. Moreover, we were invited to publish reviews in NEJM (N Engl J Med. 2021) and Nature (Nat Rev Dis Primers 2019), showing our excellent reputation in this field. We continue to search for new antigens, applying various techniques. This setup might be valuable also in other inflammatory diseases that involve specific antigens.