Indira Mysorekar, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Basic and Translational Research at Baylor College of Medicine and PI of a prior CAIRIBU P20 Exploratory Center at Washington University, was awarded an R01 research grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for her project “Mechanisms of age- and sex-dependent changes in urinary bladder immunity.” Dr. Mysorekar is one of the driving forces behind the CAIRIBU Uro-Aging Research Interest Group and a prominent leader in the CAIRIBU Urobiome Research Interest Group.
Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) afflict millions of postmenopausal and older women in the US each year, imposing tremendous personal and financial burdens on society. Using a mouse model of aging and chronic bladder infection and inflammation that closely parallels the clinical presentation of post-menopausal women with UTIs, Dr. Mysorekar’s lab will elucidate the underlying immune and hormonal drivers that cause frequent recurrent UTIs and heightened lower urinary tract symptoms in a sex-dependent manner. Completion of work proposed will reveal properties and triggers for age-associated and hormone-regulated immune dysfunction that affects bladder health. Long term, this work will lead to development of new therapeutic interventions to treat chronic bladder inflammation and improve clinical management of recurrent urinary tract infections, especially in older women.
This new concept of the interplay between aging, sex, infection, and local immune responses within the bladder generates many new important questions for the field. By elucidating the mechanisms, mediators, and triggers that drive bladder tertiary lymphoid tissue formation, taking into consideration sex differences, her work will provide important insights into mucosal immunity in the aging bladder. Additionally, her work will establish the foundation for future development of biomarkers of functional immune system changes in older individuals to guide treatment strategies aimed at improving infection and inflammation outcomes.
Congratulations, Dr. Mysorekar.