Dan Marrama

Bioinformatics, Immunology, and Autoimmunity Research in the Peters Lab @ljiresearch @iedb_

Caretaker for my partner with severe Sjogren's/SLE.

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

this is pretty cool

[Prof. Nikolai Slavov @slavov_n]

A gene may template many dozens of products. Its products can have diverse, even opposing functions.

Associating the functions of the products with the gene is a simplistic approximation that has outlived its usefulness.

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

Thanks Chris!

[Dr Chris Thorpe @drchristhorpe]

Really fascinating session from @danielmarrama @iedb_ on how they're using external data sources to improve the data #iedbuw2024

[Lior Pachter @lpachter]

In this UMAP, there are arrows linking nothing to nothing (see panel d). Gornisht mit gornisht, as they say.

Also drawing curves on top of a UMAP built from x-ray images by repurposing RNA velocity software that already didn't make sense is next level!

[Donald Thomas, MD @lupuscyclopedia]

FINALLY: Results of CAR-T cell therapy for

#Sjogrens disease (SjD) and rheumatoid arthritis #RA:

https://t.co/l9mE1bhRN7

These results are historical for Sjogrens! It shows that clinical trials with CAR-T cell therapy can meet the very difficult to achieve improvements in primary end points! I hope pharma sees this, invests in clinical trials, and help Sjogren's patients! (@SjogrensOrg ... please check this out and get Pharma involved!)

At 12 weeks after BCMA-CAR-T infusion, two SjD patients had serologic remission, normalization of anti-SSA levels (one became anti-SSA negative, and the 2nd was close) and disease activity improvements, increased nonstimulated salivary rates, increased tear break up times, and improved Schirmers testing (ie improved dry mouth and dry eyes).

One rheumatoid arthritis patient achieved objective "remission" by 12 weeks.

A new chapter in SjD and RA treatment? I sure hope so. There are no proven systemic therapies for SjD, and 30% of RA patients are "treatment-resistant."

Thanks for @MaxKonigMD for bringing this to my attention as it was hidden in an NMO study

[S Blitshteyn MD, FAAN, FANA, Dysautonomia Clinic @dysclinic]

I have 2 patients with autonomic neuropathy secondary to systemic autoimmune disease (one with #Sjogrens syndrome), both on IVIG, who went to prominent academic institutions and saw well-known physicians. Both got their diagnoses rescinded because positive antibodies were not high enough or diagnostic workup didn't exactly fit it. Both got their IVIG taken away by insurance companies who happily accepted the refuting of their autoimmune diagnoses. Both patients deteriorated fast after their IVIG was stopped.
Take-home points:
✔️ Our healthcare system is very broken when one consult report can take away your prior lifesaving treatment and your livelihood
✔️ If you're a physician... before you take away a prior diagnosis made by other physicians, think hard how it'll affect your patient. Would they be better or worse off without this diagnosis and current treatment?
✔️ If you're a patient... you need to consider the risks and benefits of seeing a new physician within prominent healthcare systems: you may end up in worse position after going there.

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

@Prof_Oak_ Yeah... without clonal expansion, how do people expect CAR-NK to behave like CAR-T and have deep depletion?

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

@RSandra266 Wishing you good results.

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

@soychotic Can we please stop using Anaconda?

[Ethan Mollick @emollick]

LLMs passed a Turing Test, of a sort, for doctors.

149 actors playing patients texted live with one of 20 primary care doctors or else Google's new medical LLM, AMIE. Specialist human doctors & the "patients" rated the quality of care. AMIE beat the docs. https://t.co/swFrgsZpwD

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

@tunguz New OpenAI headquarters

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

@lupuscyclopedia @SjogrensOrg Even if B cell load is higher with Sjogren's syndrome, isn't it still much lower than B-ALL?

[Donald Thomas, MD @lupuscyclopedia]

@SjogrensOrg #Sjogrens
Foundation Research Grants up to $100,000

LINK:🔗https://t.co/6pgXy6UExx

We are in GREAT need of better treatments (there are no FDA-approved therapies for the systemic disease!) for the most common systemic autoimmune disease!

A TRAVESTY

Researchers: PLEASE consider specializing in Sjogren's
Develop a sound research topic
We need to learn the pathophysiology, endotypes, treatments.

I would LOVE to see a CAR-T study in the US. This is a B-cell-driven disease... it should work! (try CD-19 CAR-T)
(actually, I would like it in all countries!)
Make sure to use one with low levels of complement activation syndrome and ICANS due to the high B-cell load in patients.

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

#mRNA CAR-T is dumb for #autoimmune diseases. One-time CAR expression ex vivo does not allow for in vivo expansion which results in a lack of deep B cell depletion. Most patients will regress back to pre-infusion state, in my opinion.

[Dan Marrama @danielmarrama]

@gdb Well said. My girlfriend is in a very similar boat with #sjogrens and #lupus - presents with many symptoms across most organ systems. The medical system is extremely inefficient and slow. I hope to see AGI developed to fix most of the problems.