Matthew McConnell, MD

Pilot Research Award
$50,000 over one year

Yale University

Platelet-Mediated Inflammation in Primary Biliary Cholangitis

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is the most common autoimmune liver disease. While we have several options for treating patients with this disease, there are many people who still do not get better with our existing therapies. We have learned that platelets, small cells that most people know as helping with blood clotting, can cause inflammation in other autoimmune diseases, and this research will explore the role that platelets may be playing in the inflammation causing liver disease in PBC. Our hope is that studying this new cause of inflammation can lead to more treatments for our patients with PBC.