University of Gothenburg
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Tao Jin

Affiliated to Research

Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation
Research
Mail
tao.jin@rheuma.gu.se
Visiting address
Guldhedsgatan 10A
413 46 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 480
405 30 Göteborg

About Tao Jin

MD, Associate professor Deputy Head of Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine

  • MD, Suzhou Medical College, China (1995)
  • Phd, Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation
  • Research, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg (2005)
  • Associate professor in Rheumatology (2010) Rheumatologist (2015)

Research

Septic arthritis remains one of the most dangerous joint diseases due to its rapidly progressive and destructive disease character. Despite advances in the use of antibiotics, permanent reductions in joint function occur in up to 50% of patients who may need joint replacement surgery. My research focuses on generation of new knowledge important to our understanding of staphylococcus aureus -host interplay. My ultimate goal is that the new knowledge will contribute to the design of early diagnosis and improved therapeutic strategies against S. aureus septic arthritis.

Specifically, there are two main questions that I want to answer: 1. how do bugs reach the joint cavity? 2. which bacterial factor causes joint damage?

My group found that depletion of coagulases (two S. aureus products promoting clotting of plasma or blood) totally abolished the capability of S. aureus to invade joint cavity and greatly reduced joint inflammation and bone destruction, while it did not affect the bacterial load in other organs. This suggests that we are very close to the core mechanism of this disease. Other important observation is that one single intraarticular injection of lipoprotein (bacterial cell wall component) causes long-lasting and destructive joint damage. We plan to further understand the underlying mechanism and develop the new vaciccins against S. aureus septic arthritis.

Virulence factors and host factors in S. aureus infections

The lab is studying the involvement of bacterial virulence factors, as well as some host immune cell types and cytokines, in the pathogenesis of infectious arthritis using our unique mouse model for S. aureus septic arthritis. Currently we are working on the role of complement factors in septic arthritis.

On the bacterial factor side, activation of fibrinolysis by staphylokinase (enzyme produced by S. aureus) blocks the bacterial attachment by cleaving off the host-derived adhesins on the surface of implants (unpublished data). We want to further design new preventive modalities against biofilm infections e.g. plasminogen activators immobilization on prosthetic implants.

Immunoregulation to ameliorate septic arthritis

Our earlier results suggest that via TNF receptor 1, antibiotic-killed S. aureus causes long-lasting joint inflammation that might lead to post-infectious complications of S. aureus septic arthritis. In the follow-up studies, my research group is investigating whether the combination therapy of antibiotics and immunomodulating biologics (including TNF-a, IL-6 inhibitors, CTLA-Ig, and JAK kinase inhibitors) minimizes post infectious sequelae, alleviates the bone/cartilage destruction, and in turn diminishes the joint dysfunction in mice and patients with S. aureus septic arthritis.

Yet, there are potential dangers associated with clinicians choosing inadequate antibiotics in combination with biologics due to deteriorated immune responses by immunomodulating biologics. My lab is also studying the possible side effects of biologics e.g. increased susceptibility to S. aureus infections.

Group members

Abukar Ali Postdoctoral Fellow

Anders Jarneborn PhD student

Majd Mohammed PhD student

Manli Na Postdoctoral Fellow

More about Tao Jin's research

Please visit https://taoslab.org/