Amr Sawalha, M.D.

Amr Sawalha, M.D.

Contact

Campus: UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Office: 4401 Penn Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Ph: 412-692-8140

asawalha@pitt.edu

Academic Affiliation

  • Professor and Chief, Division of Pediatric Rheumatology
  • Vincent Londino Endowed Chair in Pediatric Rheumatology
  • Director, Comprehensive Lupus Center of Excellence

About Research

Dr. Sawalha's research program focuses on elucidating genetic and epigenetic contribution to the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. His team applies state-of-the-art genomic, epigenomic, and bioinformatics methodologies, and subsequent functional studies using both in vitro and in vivo systems to identify and characterize genetic loci and pathways involved in the pathogenesis of immune-mediated diseases. Using careful clinical phenotyping and extensive national and international collaborations, his team aims at discovering genomic and epigenomic markers for disease progression, specific organ involvement, and response to therapy in systemic autoimmunity.
 
 

Selected Publications

  1. Rohraff DM, He Y, Farkash EA, Schonfeld M, Tsou PS, Sawalha AH. Inhibition of EZH2 Ameliorates Lupus-Like Disease in MRL/lpr Mice. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2019 Oct;71(10):1681-1690. PubMed PMID: 31106974; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6764871.
  2. Coit P, Ortiz-Fernandez L, Lewis EE, McCune WJ, Maksimowicz-McKinnon K, Sawalha AH. A longitudinal and transancestral analysis of DNA methylation patterns and disease activity in lupus patients. JCI Insight. 2020 Nov 19;5(22):e143654. PubMed PMID: 33108347; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7710270.
  3. Tsou PS, Campbell P, Amin MA, Coit P, Miller S, Fox DA, Khanna D, Sawalha AH. Inhibition of EZH2 prevents fibrosis and restores normal angiogenesis in scleroderma. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 2019 Feb 26;116(9):3695-3702. PubMed PMID: 30755532; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6397533.  
  4. Golden LC, Itoha Y, Itoha N, Iyengara S, Coit P, Salamaa Y, Arnolde AP, Sawalha AH, Voskuhl RR. Parent-of-origin differences in DNA methylation of X chromosome genes in T lymphocytes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 2019 Dec 10;116(52):26779-26787. PubMed PMID: 31822606; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6936674.
  5. Coit P, Jeffries M, Altorok N, Dozmorov MG, Koelsch KA, Wren JD, Merrill JT, McCune WJ, Sawalha AH. Genome-wide DNA methylation study suggests epigenetic accessibility and transcriptional poising of interferon-regulated genes in naïve CD4+ T cells from lupus patients. J Autoimmun. 2013 Jun;43:78-84. PubMed PMID: 23623029; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3790645.
  6. Coit P, Dozmorov MG, Merrill JT, McCune WJ, Maksimowicz-McKinnon K, Wren JD, Sawalha AH. Epigenetic reprogramming in naive CD4+ T cells favoring T cell activation and non-Th1 effector T cell immune response as an early event in lupus flares. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016 Sep;68(9):2200-9. PubMed PMID: 27111767; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5001909.
  7. Tsou PS, Coit P, Kilian NC, Sawalha AH. EZH2 modulates the DNA methylome and controls T cell adhesion through junctional adhesion molecule-A in lupus patients. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2017 Oct 3; PMCID: PMC5745285.
  8. Hughes T, Coit P, Adler A, Yilmaz V, Aksu K, Düzgün N, Keser G, Cefle A, Yazici A, Ergen A, Alpsoy E, Salvarani C, Casali B, Kötter I, Gutierrez-Achury J, Wijmenga C, Direskeneli H, Saruhan-Direskeneli G, Sawalha AH. Identification of multiple independent susceptibility loci in the HLA region in Behçet's disease. Nat Genet. 2013 Mar;45(3):319-24. PubMed PMID: 23396137.
  9. Ortiz Fernández L, Coit P, Yilmaz V, Yentür SP, Alibaz-Oner F, Aksu K, Erken E, Düzgün N, Keser G, Cefle A, Yazici A, Ergen A, Alpsoy E, Salvarani C, Casali B, Kısacık B, Kötter I, Henes J, Çınar M, Schaefer A, Nohutcu RM, Zhernakova A, Wijmenga C, Takeuchi F, Harihara S, Kaburaki T, Messedi M, Song YW, Kaşifoğlu T, Carmona FD, Guthridge JM, James JA, Martin J, González Escribano MF, Saruhan-Direskeneli G, Direskeneli H, Sawalha AH. Genetic association of a gain of function interferon gamma receptor 1 (IFNGR1) polymorphism and the intergenic region LNCAROD/DKK1 with Behçet's disease. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 Jul;73(7):1244-1252. PubMed PMID: 33393726; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8238846.
  10. Kong X, Sawalha AH. Takayasu arteritis risk locus in IL6 represses the anti-inflammatory gene GPNMB through chromatin looping and recruiting MEF2-HDAC complex. Ann Rheum Dis. 2019 Oct;78(10):1388-1397. PMID: 31315839; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7147956.
  11. Ortiz-Fernández L, Saruhan-Direskeneli G, Alibaz-Oner F, Kaymaz-Tahra S, Coit P, Kong X, Kiprianos AP, Maughan RT, Aydin SZ, Aksu K, Keser G, Kamali S, Inanc M, Springer J, Akar S, Onen F, Akkoc N, Khalidi NA, Koening C, Karadag O, Kiraz S, Forbess L, Langford CA, McAlear CA, Ozbalkan Z, Yavuz S, Çetin GY, Alpay-Kanitez N, Chung S, Ates A, Karaaslan Y, McKinnon-Maksimowicz K, Monach PA, Ozer HTE, Seyahi E, Fresko I, Cefle A, Seo P, Warrington KJ, Ozturk MA, Ytterberg SR, Cobankara V, Onat AM, Duzgun N, Bıcakcıgil M, Yentür SP, Lally L, Manfredi AA, Baldissera E, Erken E, Yazici A, Kısacık B, Kaşifoğlu T, Dalkilic E, Cuthbertson D, Pagnoux C, Sreih A, Reales G, Wallace C, Wren JD, Cunninghame-Graham DS, Vyse TJ, Sun Y, Chen H, Grayson PC, Tombetti E, Jiang L, Mason JC, Merkel PA, Direskeneli H, Sawalha AH. Identification of susceptibility loci for Takayasu arteritis through a large multi-ancestral genome-wide association study. Am J Hum Genet. 2021 Jan 7;108(1):84-99. PMID: 33308445; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7820633.

For a complete list of publications, please click here.