Charlotte Hurabielle, MD, PhD

University of California, San Francisco 

Mentor(s): Joseph DeRisi, PhD and Jimmie Ye, PhD 

Project Title: Unveiling the humoral and molecular signatures of SLE flares and resolution 

About the Researcher 

Charlotte Hurabielle, MD, PhD, received her MD training in France at the Université Paris Descartes. After graduating in 2011, she completed a residency in dermatology in Paris at the Assistance Publique – Hopitaux de Paris. She then came to the United States in pursuit of a PhD in immunology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland to continue scientific training and worked under Dr. Belkaid’s supervision. She investigated how the skin microbiota affects the development of inflammatory disorders. She then completed an internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship at UCSF. During her training, the very first patient she met was a young woman who she diagnosed with lupus, who unfortunately quickly developed end stage renal disease. Since then, she met multiple other patients with lupus, and it has been profoundly impactful to observe the wide range of lupus presentations. She then decided to dedicate the next step of her career to better understand the mechanisms of lupus flare, and the pathogenesis of persistent flare as compared to flare resolution. 

Project Summary 

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a life-threatening multi-system autoimmune disease that is resistant to current treatments. Lupus can affect every organ in the body with unpredictable periods of disease activity, or flares, followed by periods of relative quiescence. Though some markers in the blood are associated with SLE, flares or specific organ involvement, a detailed understanding of the immune response during flares is still lacking. Understanding of the causes of persistence flare as compared to response to treatment is even less clear. 

In this study, we will leverage novel technologies to allow for an in depth analysis of the immune response in patients who have lupus. We have collected hundreds of samples and used cutting edge technologies such as PhIP-seq (a technique to identify protective or pathogenic auto-antibodies) and single-cell multiomics (3 combined techniques to characterize the immune response at the DNA, RNA and protein level). For each patient, we have robust clinical data and multiple samples collected over time, including at the time of a flare and during treatment of the flare. We aim to understand why patients have the manifestations that they do and what immune signatures predict flares and remissions. By parsing these complex immune responses, we will be able to elucidate new pathways that lead to both disease and resolution. This will help to develop innovative treatment strategies and guide personalized therapies in the future.