The initiative is co-sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. It is an outcome of a 2001 NIH advisory panel's recommendations to accelerate basic and clinical research in primary immunodeficiency diseases and to attract new investigators to the field.
"Until now, a relative scarcity of study subjects has limited a researcher's options for investigating these lesser known diseases," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the NIAID. "The consortium will help advance our understanding by focusing research priorities, uniting established researchers with new investigators, funding small-scale clinical and preclinical projects, and creating or expanding research resources, including a cell line repository and Web-based patient registry to which all researchers will have access."
The registry will build upon a 1998 NIAID-funded registry of the Immune Deficiency Foundation that includes clinical information on individuals with eight primary immunodeficiency diseases. The registry will be accessible to researchers at a secure Web site that protects the privacy of those who are registered. The repository will include DNA from individuals included in the registry for use by investigators on approved research studies.
Unlike secondary or acquired immune deficiency diseases, whi
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Contact: Jennifer Wenger
jwenger@niaid.nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
3-Oct-2003