申请人王向阳为美国弗吉尼亚联邦大学教授，长期从事应激蛋白和受体介导免疫调节的机制研究，为NIH清道夫受体命名委员会专家。近年来首次发现自身免疫病中髓源抑制性细胞（MDSCs）可促进炎症。近5年在JI、ARD等期刊发表论文43篇，主持NIH、DOD等基金5项，经费超过800万美元。.国内合作者李娟教授长期从事类风湿关节炎（RA）的机制及中西医结合治疗研究，为国家中医药管理局重点学科（中医风湿痹病）学科带头人。以第一完成人获中国中西医结合学会科技进步一等奖1项。近5年以通讯作者发表SCI论文6篇。双方已围绕“MDSCs促进RA发病的机制”开展了前期研究，成果以共同第一作者单位署名发表在ARD（IF=10.377）。本项目拟进一步研究MDSCs促进Th17细胞分化过程中清道夫受体A（SRA）的调控及中药青藤碱的干预，阐明SRA影响RA发病的机制，并丰富青藤碱治疗RA的靶点及疗效机制。

The applicant Xiang-Yang Wang, a professor in Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, is a prominent researcher and expert in the field of immunology. Prof. Wang has been studying the roles of stress proteins and their receptors in immune modulation, inflammation and inflammatory disorders. He is the leading expert in the area of scavenger receptor immunobiology, and currently he is a member of Scavenger Receptor Nomenclature Committee Panel, National Institute of Health (NIH). His group first discovered the pro-inflammatory activity of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in inflammatory diseases, including autoimmune arthritis. He has published 43 research articles in quality SCI journals in recent five years, including The Journal of Immunology (JI), Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (ARD). Over the last five years, he has been the principle investigator of five major research projects with more than eight million US dollars, which are funded by NIH and US Department of Defense (DOD).. The collaborator Juan Li, a professor in Southern Medical University, is a prominent expert in the field of rheumatology. She is an academic leader of key discipline and key specialty of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She won a first-grade prize of Progress of Science and Technology award from Chinese Association of Integrative Medicine, a second-grade prize of Progress of Science and Technology award from Guangdong province. She had published 6 research articles in SCI journals as the corresponding author within the last five years. . In 2012, Professor Wang was appointed visiting professor of Southern Medical University. The two research groups, led by Professors Wang and Li, have been collaborating to investigate the immunological basis of MDSCs in promoting the pathogenesis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The results derived from this research were published in 2016 in ARD, with an impact factor of 10.377. The two groups were listed as co-first authors in this publication. In the current project, we propose to elucidate the mechanisms by which scavenger receptor A (SRA) activates the MDSCs, which drive the polarization of Th17 and pathogenic processes of RA. Furthermore, we will investigate the impact of Traditional Chinese Medicine Sinomenine on this newly identified pathogenic pathway. It is anticipated that these results not only will define a critical role of SRA in RA pathogenesis, but also will facilitate a better mechanistic understanding of Sinomenine action in treatment of RA.