Judith Ashouri Sinha, MD

Assistant Professor In Res

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) afflicts millions globally, causing significant joint deformity, pain, and functional disability. RA is without cure and its cause is unknown, but CD4 T cells—immune cells widely accepted to play a key role in RA pathogenesis—from patients with RA become activated by proteins through their T cell receptor (called “antigen-specific T cells”) and cause arthritis. Dr. Ashouri’s research uses a unique tool to identify and characterize these antigen-activated T cells in both a mouse model of RA and human RA. Elucidating the contribution of these pathogenic CD4 T cells to arthritis development in RA holds promise for the discovery of improved therapeutic targets.

Education
01/2022 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
Fellowship, 06/2014 - Rheumatology, University of California, San Francisco
Residency, 06/2011 - Internal Medicine, Stanford University Hospital & Clinics
MD, 06/2008 - , University of California, San Francisco
Honors and Awards
  • Arthritis National Research Foundation Scholar, Arthritis National Research Foundation, 2018-2020
  • K Bridge Award, Rheumatology Research Foundation, 2017-2018
  • Bechtel Junior Faculty Award, UCSF Division of Rheumatology, 2016-2019
  • Scientist Development Award, Rheumatology Research Foundation, 2012-2015
Websites
Publications

  1. Wørzner K, Zimmermann J, Buhl R, Desoi A, Christensen D, Dietrich J, Nguyen NDNT, Lindenstrøm T, Woodworth JS, Alhakeem RS, Yu S, Ødum N, Mortensen R, Ashouri JF, Pedersen GK. Repeated immunization with ATRA-containing liposomal adjuvant transdifferentiates Th17 cells to a Tr1-like phenotype. Journal of autoimmunity 2024. PMID: 38377868


  2. Mohamedaly S, Levy CS, Korsholm C, Alkhani A, Rosenberg K, Ashouri JF, Nijagal A. Hepatic Ly6CLo Non-Classical Monocytes Have Increased Nr4a1 (Nur77) in Murine Biliary Atresia. Journal of clinical medicine 2022. PMID: 36142937


  3. Ashouri JF, Lo WL, Nguyen TTT, Shen L, Weiss A. ZAP70, too little, too much can lead to autoimmunity. 2021. PMID: 34923645


  4. Rychkov D, Neely J, Oskotsky T, Yu S, Perlmutter N, Nititham J, Carvidi A, Krueger M, Gross A, Criswell LA, Ashouri JF, Sirota M. Cross-Tissue Transcriptomic Analysis Leveraging Machine Learning Approaches Identifies New Biomarkers for Rheumatoid Arthritis. Frontiers in immunology 2021. PMID: 34177888


  5. Shams S, Martinez JM, Dawson JRD, Flores J, Gabriel M, Garcia G, Guevara A, Murray K, Pacifici N, Vargas MV, Voelker T, Hell JW, Ashouri JF. The Therapeutic Landscape of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Current State and Future Directions. Frontiers in pharmacology 2021. PMID: 34122106


  6. Jiang Y, Jarr K, Layton C, Gardner CD, Ashouri JF, Abreu MT, Sinha SR. Therapeutic Implications of Diet in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Related Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases. Nutrients 2021. PMID: 33801883


  7. Dhariwala MO, Karthikeyan D, Vasquez KS, Farhat S, Weckel A, Taravati K, Leitner EG, Clancy S, Pauli M, Piper ML, Cohen JN, Ashouri JF, Lowe MM, Rosenblum MD, Scharschmidt TC. Developing Human Skin Contains Lymphocytes Demonstrating a Memory Signature. Cell reports. Medicine 2020. PMID: 33294857


  8. Jadhav P, Jiang Y, Jarr K, Layton C, Ashouri JF, Sinha SR. Efficacy of Dietary Supplements in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Related Autoimmune Diseases. Nutrients 2020. PMID: 32698454


  9. Ashouri JF, Hsu LY, Yu S, Rychkov D, Chen Y, Cheng DA, Sirota M, Hansen E, Lattanza L, Zikherman J, Weiss A. Reporters of TCR signaling identify arthritogenic T cells in murine and human autoimmune arthritis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2019. PMID: 31455730


  10. Ashouri JF, Weiss A. Endogenous Nur77 Is a Specific Indicator of Antigen Receptor Signaling in Human T and B Cells. Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2016. PMID: 27940659


  11. Au-Yeung BB, Zikherman J, Mueller JL, Ashouri JF, Matloubian M, Cheng DA, Chen Y, Shokat KM, Weiss A. A sharp T-cell antigen receptor signaling threshold for T-cell proliferation. Volume 111 of Issue 35. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2014. PMID: 25136127


  12. Maldonado JR, Sher Y, Ashouri JF, Hills-Evans K, Swendsen H, Lolak S, Miller AC. The "Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale" (PAWSS): systematic literature review and pilot study of a new scale for the prediction of complicated alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Microfilament Proteins 2014. PMID: 24657098


  13. Ashouri JF, Davis JL, Farkas A, Durack JC, Ramachandran R, Dall'Era M. A young woman with systemic lupus erythematosus and extensive mesenteric vasculitis involving small and medium vessels. Arthritis care & research 2012. PMID: 22933330


  14. Ashouri JF, Daikh DI. Rheumatic manifestations of cancer. Rheumatic diseases clinics of North America 2011. PMID: 22075194


  15. Hoffmann E, Ashouri J, Wolter S, Doerrie A, Dittrich-Breiholz O, Schneider H, Wagner EF, Troppmair J, Mackman N, Kracht M. Transcriptional regulation of EGR-1 by the interleukin-1-JNK-MKK7-c-Jun pathway. The Journal of biological chemistry 2008. PMID: 18281687


  16. Palaszynski KM, Loo KK, Ashouri JF, Liu HB, Voskuhl RR. Androgens are protective in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis: implications for multiple sclerosis. Journal of neuroimmunology 2004. PMID: 14698857


  17. Liu HB, Loo KK, Palaszynski K, Ashouri J, Lubahn DB, Voskuhl RR. Estrogen receptor alpha mediates estrogen's immune protection in autoimmune disease. Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2003. PMID: 14662901