Joseph Craft, MD

The focus of our work is twofold, first, the investigation of systemic autoimmunity begun when I initiated my career. Our early work was devoted to investigation of autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, lupus) and related diseases and their autoantigenic targets, studies critical for disease classification and prognosis. We continued our studies understanding how these responses originated, dissecting the T-cell dependence for autoreactive B cell maturation, and the regulation of autoreactive T cells and how the latter promote tissue damage in lupus. As part of these studies, we were the first to identify and characterize the CD4 T helper cell subset that promotes autoantibody formation in lupus, work that naturally led to the second interest of the lab, the fundamentals of T-cell dependent humoral immunity. This work blossomed with our identification and characterization of T follicular helper (Tfh) T cells, in collaboration with Shane Crotty and simultaneouswith two other groups. We have continued our fundamental studies of Tfh cells and the role of CD4 T cell help for licensing of B cellsand other immune cells, including protective and pathogenic CD8 T cells, and the role in CD4 T cell in protective and pathologicalimmunity. These parallel interests of the lab, the pathogenesis of SLE and related diseases, and the fundamentals of CD4 T cell regulation of immunity -- B cells and CD8 T cells in particular -- naturally drive and invigorate one another in the lab, with trainees(graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty) working in both areas.