For immediate useNov. 11, 1997 -- No. 837

UNC-CH rheumatologist receives Kunkel Young Investigator Award

By KAREN STINNEFORD
UNC-CH News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Westley H. Reeves, associate professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel, has been given the Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology.

He will receive the award today (Nov. 11) at the college's annual national scientific meeting in Washington, D.C.

The Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award is given each year to a scientist under the age of 45 who has made important scientific contributions to the field of rheumatology, a field of medicine specializing in the study and treatment of diseases affecting connective tissue. The award is named after Dr. Henry Kunkel, who helped train and mentor numerous investigators in rheumatic diseases.

Reeves is a researcher at UNC-CH's Thurston Arthritis Research Center, where he studies the causes of lupus, a chronic and largely genetic autoimmune disease that inflames various parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood and kidneys. His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Arthritis Foundation and the Lupus Foundation of America.

Lupus, like other autoimmune diseases, occurs when the body's defense system goes awry. Normally, the body's immune system makes proteins, called antibodies, to protect itself against foreign invaders such as viruses, bacteria and other materials. These foreign invaders are called antigens.

In lupus, the body loses its ability to distinguish between antigens and its own cells and tissues. It makes antibodies directed against itself -- these antibodies, called “auto-antibodies,” react with the “self” antigens to form immune complexes, which build up in the tissues and cause inflammation, injury to tissues, such as kidneys, and joint pain.

According to the Lupus Foundation of American, more people suffer from lupus than from AIDS, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis combined. Two million Americans may have lupus; for many, it is a mild disease affecting only a few organs. For others, it may cause serious and even life-threatening problems.

Reeves co-discovered the Ku protein, which is recognized by auto-antibodies found in the blood of some lupus patients, and was a key investigator in defining the structure and function of DNA-PK, a complex of proteins essential for repairing damaged DNA. Without the ability to repair damaged DNA, the body cannot fight infections and becomes sensitive to radiation exposure, such as X-rays.

Reeves and his colleagues also study the chemical induction of lupus in mice using pristane, a chemical found in mineral oil. Being able to induce lupus in mice is useful because it allows scientists to study why the immune system attacks one's own cells in lupus and how the environment or other factors might exacerbate or relieve the disease.

Currently, doctors treat lupus with potent drugs such as steroids and cytotoxic drugs, Reeves said, and so a better understanding of the immune abnormalities in lupus may lead to better treatments.

“Right now, we hit the immune system of a lupus patient with a sledge hammer,” he said. “It would be nice if we could use a smart-bomb approach instead.”

Besides authoring or co-authoring 77 scientific articles, Reeves has served on editorial boards for the Journal of Immunology, the Journal of Experimental Medicine and Molecular Biology Reports, as well as three scientific panels for the National Institutes of Health. He co-chairs a research committee for the Arthritis Foundation and has received numerous professional awards honoring his research studies.

The American College of Rheumatology is an organization of physicians, health professionals and scientists that offers education, research and advocacy programs that foster excellence in the care of people with arthritis, and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

Chartered in 1981, the UNC-CH Thurston Arthritis Research Center investigates the causes, consequences and treatments of arthritis, including lupus and nearly 100 other rheumatic diseases, and seeks to reduce their impact on patients, their families and society. The center, with more than 70 faculty members in 18 departments, six schools and six centers, has been designated by the National Institutes of Health as one of only two Multipurpose Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disease Centers in the Southeast. Also housed within the Thurston Center is the NIH-supported Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) on Lupus, of which there are only two in the country.

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News Services print contact: Karen Stinneford

News Services broadcast contact: Karen Moon