Mustafa Ghanizada

Why do some people develop autoimmune diseases – where the body attacks its own cells?

‘The simple answer is that we don’t yet understand the biological mechanisms at play, but my research at Stanford University will be within this field,’ says Mustafa Ghanizada.
Mustafa is 24 years old and is studying medicine at the University of Copenhagen. He has two years left before he graduates as a doctor.

Mustafa Ghanizada will be investigating the type of autoimmune disease that generates antibodies which attack the patient’s body, as is the case, for instance, with multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus and rheumatoid arthritis:

‘Autoimmune diseases affect a great many people, particularly in the industrialised world. Among other things, I’ll be investigating where in the immune system things go wrong when the body begins to generate antibodies against itself in connection with development of an autoimmune disease. In order to be able to treat a disease, we need to know why and how it occurs,’ he says.

As a DARE Fellow, Mustafa Ghanizada will be conducting research at Stanford University, and he will be working in the laboratory of Professor Mark Davis.

Professor Davis specialises in the human immune system, and he has designed a novel in vitro model for studying this system.

The method is based on organoids, so-called mini organs, generated from human cells. It produces cell structures which, in a range of significant respects, are able to mimic the biological conditions in the human body.

The cells used in Professor Davis’s lab come from human tonsils, surgically removed from children to prevent a benign but troublesome condition – typically recurrent infections or sleep apnoea.
The tonsils are part of the human immune system, and creating tonsil organoids, or “mini tonsils”, from the surgically removed organs produces a biological material highly reminiscent of the human immune system.
Mustafa Ghanizada explains that this makes it possible to investigate a key issue:

‘Whether some of the T cells naturally occurring in our immune systems may play a significant role in autoimmune diseases.’

T cells – and there are many different types – are commonly known as “killer cells”. This is because they are responsible for disposing of the body’s unwanted cells, including cancer cells and cells infected with a virus.

‘But the question is whether some of these killer T cells may also trigger antibodies aimed at the body itself – thus causing development of an autoimmune disease. I’m really looking forward to studying this,’ says Mustafa Ghanizada.

Mustafa Ghanizada’s Danish mentor is Professor Søren Buus from the Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen.