| Publications :: | Professor
of Pediatrics Division of Pediatric Rheumatology 
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is a painful, crippling chronic
disease of children causing severe pain, swelling, and stiffness of
the joints. Dr. Linda Myers’ research focuses on the study of
arthritis induced in special strains of mice injected with collagen,
a component of connective tissue. Her research group has found that
by treating these animals with collagen peptides (short pieces of
the collagen protein), the severity of the arthritis can be down-regulated.
Dr. Myers’ ongoing studies are designed to determine the mechanism
of this observation at the molecular level in the immune system. Information
gained from these studies will provide important insights for the
design of new therapies that may prove beneficial in the treatment
of arthritis in humans. |
Bowyer SL, Roettcher PA, Higgins GC, Adams B, Myers LK, Wallace C, Rennebohm R, Moore TL, Pepmueller PH, Spencer C, Wagner-Weiner L, Rabinovich E, Passo M, Lovell DJ, McCurdy D, Zemel L, Schikler KN, Szer I, Kurtin P, Lindsley C: Health status of patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at 1 and 5 years after diagnosis. J Rheumatol 2003; 30(2):394-400 Head AJ, Myers LK, Thompson JD, Buckingham SC, Skinner RB Jr. Disseminated blastomycosis presenting as oligoarticular septic arthritis in a 12-year-old girl. Arthritis Rheum 2005; 53(1):138-141 Chhokar VS, Sun Y, Bhattacharya SK, Ahokas RA, Myers LK, Xing Z, Smith RA, Gerling IC, Weber KT. Hyperparathyroidism and the calcium paradox of aldosteronism. Circulation 2005; 111(7):871-878 Mukherjee P, Yang SY, Wu B, Song Z, Myers LK, Robbins PD, Wooley PH. Tumor necrosis factor receptor gene therapy affects cellular immune response in collagen-induced arthritis in mice. Ann Rheum Dis 2005; 64(11):1550-1556. Sakurai Y, Tang B, Rosloniec EF, Stuart JM, Kang AH, Myers LK. Molecular characterization of an arthritogenic collagen peptide interacting with I-Ar. Immunology 2006; 117(1):136-142 Brownlie RJ, Myers LK, Wooley PH, Corrigall VM, Bodman-Smith MD, Panayi GS, Thompson SJ. Treatment of murine collagen-induced arthritis by the stress protein BiP via interleukin-4-producing regulatory T cells: a novel function for an ancient protein. Arthritis Rheum 2006; 54(3):854-863. Head AJ, Myers LK, Watsky MA, Greenwell M W, Barrow KD, Michelson JA, Carbone LD. Bone mineral density and turnover in non-corticosteroid treated African American children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol 2006; 33(5):1001-1003 |