Overview
The Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated Diseases (AMP® AIM) program launched in 2021 with the goal of deepening our understanding of the cellular and molecular interactions that lead to inflammation and autoimmune diseases. In autoimmune diseases, the body’s immune responses are excessive and long-lasting, often causing serious damage to multiple tissues and organ systems. AMP AIM investigators focus their research on rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Sjögren’s disease. The knowledge gained through these studies will advance the development of new and enhanced treatments for autoimmune diseases. In addition, AMP AIM will drive the development of new research tools, data storage platforms, and data sharing technologies.
AMP AIM builds on and broadens an earlier investment known as the AMP RA/SLE (also known as the AMP RA/Lupus) program. Both AMP AIM and AMP RA/SLE are components of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP), which was created in 2014 as a collaborative effort between the NIH, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, multiple biopharmaceutical and life science companies, nonprofit, and other organizations to transform the current model for developing new diagnostics and treatments.
AMP AIM is managed through the Foundation for the NIH, with support from NIAMS, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Eye Institute (NEI, the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), and thirteen public and private partners.
About Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated Diseases
Autoimmune diseases affect more than 23.5 million Americans, nearly 80% of whom are women, and recent studies suggest that these conditions are becoming more common. In these conditions, the body’s immune responses are so excessive and long-lasting that they can seriously damage numerous tissues and organ systems, which can have a devastating impact on health, well-being, and quality of life., and recent studies suggest that these conditions are becoming more common. In these conditions, the body’s immune responses are so excessive and long-lasting that they can seriously damage numerous tissues and organ systems, which can have a devastating impact on health, well-being, and quality of life.
To learn more, visit our Autoimmune Diseases webpage.
Need for New Therapies
It is difficult for scientists to develop new treatments and for doctors to care for people with chronic autoimmune diseases because the diseases are highly complex. In addition, each person has a unique genetic make-up and develops their own immune system over the course of their lives. Because of these factors, there is no single treatment that would be effective for every person or every autoimmune disease.
On the other hand, many autoimmune diseases have similarities, sharing common inflammatory pathways, clinical features, and responses to therapies. By identifying and characterizing the molecular and cellular-level pathways and interactions that are shared among many autoimmune conditions—as well as the pathways and interactions that are unique to specific diseases—AMP AIM scientists could open avenues for developing new therapies and diagnostic tools.
Approach
AMP AIM investigators seek to identify and define the inflammatory pathways that autoimmune diseases have in common, as well as the cellular and molecular factors that are unique to specific diseases.
The earlier AMP RA/SLE program focused on understanding specific cells and molecules that play a role in rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. AMP AIM extends this single-cell, disease deconstruction approach to additional autoimmune diseases. AMP AIM will also leverage novel, high-dimensional research tools to uncover cellular interactions that cause inflammation, injury, abnormal function, and clinical disease (disease reconstruction). In particular, the program will examine interactions involving cells in disease-relevant tissues and cells in the innate and adaptive immune systems.
Governance
The AMP Executive Committee and the AMP AIM Steering Committee oversee the program. The AMP AIM Chair and the Network Investigator Committee provide scientific leadership. The Executive Group of Network Investigator Committee (NIC-EG), Functional Groups (Clinical, Systems Biology, and Technology Groups) and NIH Staff provide scientific management.
Funded Projects
| PI NAME(S) | INSTITUTION NAME | PROJECT TITLE |
|---|---|---|
| Jennifer H. Anolik; Laura T. Donlin; Larry W. Moreland | University of Rochester | AIM-for-RA |
| Jill P. Buyon; Michelle A. Petri; Brad H. Rovin; Victoria P. Werth | New York University School of Medicine | Lupus Omics Cutaneous Kidney Investigative Team (LOCKIT) |
| Christopher T. Ritchlin; Johann E. Gudjonsson; Wilson Liao; Jose U. Scher | University of Rochester | ELLIPSS: Elucidating the Landscape of Immunoendotypes in Psoriatic Skin and Synovium |
| Caroline H. Shiboski; Alan N. Baer; A. Darise Farris; Blake M. Warner | University of California, San Francisco | Sjögren’s Team for Accelerating Medicines Partnership (STAMP) |
| Michael B. Brenner; Nir Hacohen | Brigham and Women's Hospital | Single Cell and Spatial Genomic Analyses of Specimens from Patients with Autoimmune Diseases (Technology Core) |
| Johann E. Gudjonsson; Lam Cheung Tsoi; Joshua Welch; Xiang Zhou | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor | Immunogenomics and Systems Biology Core |
| Joel M. Guthridge; Judith A. James | Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation | Accelerating Medicines Partnership-Autoimmune and Immunologic Disease Tissue Research Core |
| Soumya Raychaudhuri | Brigham and Women's Hospital | Integrative Analysis of High Dimensional Tissue Molecular Data to Define Key Biological Systems in Autoimmune Diseases (SBC) |
| Jose U. Scher; Adriana Heguy; Jose Clemente | New York University School of Medicine | Micro-TeACH (Microbiome Technology and Analytic Center Hub) |
Project Structure
Budget: 5 Years ($58.5 Million Total Project Funding)
Total project funding ($M)
Disease Area | Total NIH funding ($M) | Total Industry funding ($M) | Total non-profit funding ($M) | Total project funding ($M) |
Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated | 26.5 | 30 | 2.025 | 58.5 |
AMP AIM Partners
Government:
- NIH
Industry:
- AbbVie
- Bristol Myers Squibb
- GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK)
- Janssen Research & Development, LLC
- Novartis Pharma AG
- Pfizer Inc.
- Sanofi
- UCB
Non-Profit Organizations
- Arthritis Foundation, Inc.
- Foundation for the NIH
- Lupus Foundation of America
- Lupus Research Alliance
- National Psoriasis Foundation
- Sjögren's Foundation
Related Information
- NIAMS Director's Letter: Announcing the Inaugural Cohort of Leadership Scholars Program Awardees
- NIAMS Director's Letter: New Pilot Program Will Mentor Leaders and Advance Women's Health
- NIAMS Involvement in the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP)
- NIAMS Director's Letter: Amping Up Our Investment in Autoimmune Disease Research
- AMP AIM entry in NIH’s AMP pages.
- Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) news release.
- Recording of the Special NIAMS Advisory Council Meeting (November 18, 2021). During this meeting, Council members accepted the findings and recommendations of the AMP AIM Council Working Group about how to structure the program.
- Slides from Pre-Application Webinar (May 5, 2021) that describe the program’s proposed goals, structure, review process, and expected 5-year deliverables. Note: aspects of the program have evolved since this webinar.
Accelerating Medicines Partnership and AMP are registered service marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.