Hal Scofield, PhD

Biography

The immune system distinguishes self from non-self, and protects the body from foreign invaders such as bacteria. In autoimmune diseases, the immune attack targets self. My research takes a broad scientific approach to systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) and Sjögren’s.

In Sjögren’s syndrome, autoimmunity targets salivary and lacrimal glands resulting in severe dry eyes and mouth. Some patients have disease involving joints, lungs, peripheral nerves, skin, brain, kidney and white blood cells. We study human Sjögren’s syndrome through the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Sjögren’s Syndrome Research Clinic, where patients undergo a comprehensive evaluation. We purify antibody secreting cells from salivary glands of patients, and study how these cells and the antibodies cause disease. We are studying mitochondria dysfunction in Sjögren’s and how this may relate to clinical outcomes like fatigue and metabolic syndrome.

Lupus can affect any body tissue or organ, common manifestations involve the skin, joints and kidneys. The disease is found in women about 10 times more often than in men. About 1 in 500 men has an extra X chromosome (47,XXY), and 1 in 1000 women also has an extra X (47,XXX). We have found that 47,XXY men and 47,XXX women are more common among lupus and Sjögren’s syndrome than expected with 47,XXY men having lupus at the same rate as women. On the basis of these findings, we have proposed that the sex bias of these diseases is related to the number of X chromosomes. Our present research is directed at uncovering the molecular basis of the X chromosome dose effect.

Another project is studying autoimmunity in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. This includes lupus and Sjogren's as well as organ specific autoimmune disease. We are determining whether PTSD patients have hyperactive B lymphocytes. Another project seeks to determine the binding of EBN.

Email

Hal-Scofield@omrf.ouhsc.edu

Additional Websites

• Publications
• OMRF Profile

Research Interests:

• Sex bias in autoimmune disease
• Genetics of autoimmune disease
• Clinical expression of autoimmune disease
• Interferon in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease
• Autoimmune disease in PTSD
• Epstein Barr virus in autoimmune disease