NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has won a $1.1 million grant from the US Department of Defense to use genomics studies to learn more about lupus risk, according to the Lupus Foundation of America.
Funded through the DoD's Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP), the research will examine the genomes of African Americans, who are at increased risk for lupus, to identify which genes are involved in increasing that risk.
"African Americans with lupus are impacted at an earlier age and experience greater disease severity," LFA President and CEO Sandra Raymond said in a statement.
Currently as many as 20,000 active duty soldiers and veterans are being treated for lupus through the Veterans Administration or the military's TRICARE health care program.
"This study will address the urgent need to increase our understanding of the causes and pathogenesis of lupus that place military personnel and others at risk for lupus," Raymond added.
LFA said that DOD's PRMRP program has awarded nine grants totaling $9.5 million for lupus studies and for biomarker-focused lupus research.