"These are very rare diseases, and no single center sees enough cases to do a large-scale study on its own, so collaboration is particularly important," Cowan added. "The formation of the Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium is a quantum step forward in optimizing care for all primary immunodeficiencies."

The 13 core pediatric centers in the consortium currently treat more than 60 percent of patients with primary immunodeficiencies in North America. A group of 19 smaller centers in the U.S. and Canada that actively treat these disorders and account for another 20 percent of patients also will participate in the research projects.

The consortium will receive $1.25 million each year for the next five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a component of the National Institutes of Health. In addition to using the funds for research, the consortium will support two fellowships in primary immunodeficiency research at the postdoctoral level each year.

Scientific and administrative aspects of the consortium will be managed by a steering committee whose members include Cowan and Puck of UCSF, as well as Luigi Notarangelo, MD, a professor of pediatrics and pathology at Harvard Medical School; and Donald Kohn, MD, a professor of microbiology, immunology, molecular genetics and pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles and director of UCLA's Human Gene Medicine Program.

The additional core centers are Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Boston, Children's Memorial Hospital, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Children's Hospital Seattle, Duke University Medical Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, and the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

Source: University of California - San Francisco