Sections
Rheumatology
Centers
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
Biography
Dr. Lafyatis carries out patient oriented research into the cause and treatment of systemic sclerosis. This includes early phase clinical trials into new therapeutic agents in patients with systemic sclerosis. He has been investigating the mechanisms of actions and markers of response for novel therapeutics, such as the B cell depleting agent, rituximab and the immunosuppressant agent, mycophenlate. Additional studies are aimed at identifying biomarkers in systemic sclerosis using microarray gene expression analysis of skin and blood in scleroderma patients. Ongoing biomarker studies include investigation into molecular markers of pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis. Dr. Lafyatis also carries out basic research into the cause of fibrosis and vasculopathy in systemic sclerosis using patient samples and murine disease models. His studies have provided key insights into one widely used model of systemic sclerosis, the tight skin mouse. His studies are currently focused on understanding how autoimmunity and the innate immune system lead to fibrosis and vascular damage. This has recently led to the discovery of increased interferon-regulated gene expression in white blood cells of patients with systemic sclerosis. Ongoing research is aimed at better understanding the cause of altered gene expression by monocytes and other cells in the innate immune system.
Websites
Program in Inflammatory Disorders Faculty
Scleroderma Center of Research Translation
Education
MD, University of Cincinnati
BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Publications
Sideris D, Lee H, Olson L, Nallaparaju K, Okuyama K, Ciavarri J, Lafyatis R, Larsen M, Lin B, Alfaras I, Kennerdell J, Finkel T, Liu Y, Chen B, Lyu L. Suppression of interferon signaling via small-molecule modulation of TFAM. Elife. 2026 Feb 06; 14. PMID: 41649246.
Published on 2/4/2026Kaundal U, Tsou PS, Sahu M, Huang M, Boyden SE, Woodford CM, Shriner D, Stenson E, Safran SA, Zhou Y, Talley TA, Gudapati K, Zhang X, Kunishita Y, Wang J, Shah AA, Mayes MD, Doumatey AP, Bentley AR, Domsic R, Medsger TA, Ramos PS, Silver RM, Steen V, Varga J, Hsu V, Saketkoo LA, Schiopu E, Gordon JK, Criswell LA, Gladue H, Derk C, Bernstein EJ, Bridges SL, Shanmugam V, Chung L, Kafaja S, Jan R, Trojanowski M, Goldberg A, Korman BD, Mullikin J, Thomas JW, Dell'Orso S, Randazzo D, Adeyemo A, Remmers EF, Schwartzberg PL, Aksentijevich I, Rotimi C, Wigley FM, Wang RA, Boin F, Khanna D, Lafyatis R, Kastner DL, Gourh P. Gain of function NOTCH4 variants disrupt angiogenesis in systemic sclerosis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2026 Feb 04. PMID: 41644364.
Published on 1/29/2026Padilla CM, Lafyatis R, Gibson KF, Morse C, Valenzi E, Chen X, Li X, Zhao Y, Park Y, Ascherman D, Minden J, Domsic R, Zhang Y, Kass DJ. Monocyte LOXHD1 and RHOB Expression Predictive of Progressive Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2026 Apr; 78(4):456-468. PMID: 40771159.
Published on 12/31/2025Valenzi E, Jia M, Gerges P, Fan J, Tabib T, Behera R, Mao H, Xue D, Ju EM, Zhou Y, Sembrat JC, Das J, Benos PV, Singh H, Lafyatis R. Altered AP-1, RUNX, and EGR chromatin dynamics drive human fibrotic lung disease. Ann Rheum Dis. 2025 Dec 31. PMID: 41478761.
Published on 12/4/2025Woodcock CC, Maroli G, Kim H, Tai YY, Tang Y, Okawa S, Homsi R, Kim Y, Cho ST, Jiang S, Chauvet C, Wang B, Al Aaraj Y, Lafyatis R, Saggar R, Sembrat J, Wang Q, Li Q, Frump AL, Lahm T, McCubbrey AL, Kudryashova TV, Goncharova EA, Nouraie SM, Bertero T, Yuan K, Pullamsetti SS, Chan SY. Endothelial ADAR1 Deficit Induces the NOCT-IRF7 Axis in Pulmonary Hypertension. Circ Res. 2026 Jan 02; 138(1):e326277. PMID: 41342206.
Published on 10/7/2025Mao H, Jia M, Di M, Valenzi E, Cai XT, Lafyatis R, Zhang K, Benos PV. HALO: hierarchical causal modeling for single cell multi-omics data. Nat Commun. 2025 Oct 07; 16(1):8892. PMID: 41057364.
Published on 8/1/2025Padilla C, Katikineni V, Park Y, Freno L, Laffoon M, Reichbaum L, Lafyatis R, Domsic R. Effects of Audio-Guided Imagery on Raynaud Phenomenon in Connective Tissue Disease. ACR Open Rheumatol. 2025 Aug; 7(8):e70074. PMID: 40878837.
Published on 7/25/2025Dinc MT, El-Adili F, Lui JK, Kripesh S, York M, Trojanowski M, Ligresti G, Lafyatis R, Trojanowska M, Bujor AM. Transcriptomic profiling of scleroderma monocytes reveals links with cardiovascular complications, implicating Notch and interferon pathways. J Scleroderma Relat Disord. 2025 Jul 25; 10(3):23971983251356123. PMID: 40735732.
Published on 6/5/2025Lafyatis R, Valenzi E. Yapping about macrophages in fibrotic lung disease. Eur Respir J. 2025 Jun; 65(6). PMID: 40473297.
Published on 6/1/2025Hukara A, Bonazza GA, Tabib T, Micheroli R, Jordan S, Bürki K, Rudnik M, Ciurea A, Distler O, Lafyatis R, Blyszczuk P, Kania G. Elevated Fcy receptor expression augments pro-inflammatory macrophage phagocytosis in systemic sclerosis and associated rheumatic diseases. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2025 Jun 01; 64(6):3975-3988. PMID: 39672802.