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Anne M. Stevens, MD, PhD

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Anne M. Stevens, MD, PhD

Rheumatology

On staff since July 2000

Children's Title: Program Director, Rheumatology Education

Academic Title: Associate Professor

Research Center: Center for Immunity and Immunotherapies

"Many years ago, I began caring for a child with severe lung disease due to scleroderma, an autoimmune condition in which inflammation of the skin and lungs leads to scarring. At the time, the five-year survival rate for scleroderma was only 50%. Although the patient missed a lot of school during treatment, she stayed healthy with her parents’ support. She even played varsity basketball in high school. Her father once worried that he’d never see her grow up. Now he thinks he might be able to walk her down the aisle someday. Patients like her motivate me to advance scientific understanding of scleroderma and other diseases and to hopefully discover new treatments through laboratory research."

Making a Difference

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Overview

Board Certification(s)
Pediatrics
Pediatric Rheumatology
Medical/Professional School
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
Residency
Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati
Fellowship
Pediatric Rheumatology, University of Washington, Seattle
Clinical Interests

Role of maternal microchimerism in pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus and scleroderma

Research Description

The Stevens Lab is focused on the role of maternal microchimerism and T lymphocyte regulation in children with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

There are two major projects:

1) Maternal Microchimerism in Systemic Lupus.

The role that maternal cells, passing into the fetus during pregnancy and persisting for years in the child, play in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. The lab has demonstrated that maternal cells can differentiate into myocardial cells in the hearts of infants with neonatal lupus syndrome, where these foreign cells may act as targets for the child's immune system. Maternal cells in children can also become liver cells, kidney cells, and pancreatic islet cells.

Current work aims to answer the question: do maternal cells, expressing foreign proteins, act to stimulate the child's immune system in these organs, leading to chronic inflammatory diseases like lupus? Or do maternal cells respond to tissue injury and aid in repair of tissue injured by inflammation due to another cause? To answer this question, the lab is studying the immune response to chimeric maternal cells in children with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and a mouse model investigating the role of maternal cells in renal injury.

2) The Loss of the Negative Regulator PD-L1 on Dendritic Cells and Monocytes in Children with SLE.

The loss of the negative regulator PD-L1 on dendritic cells and monocytes in children with SLE. This loss of a protein that inhibits T lymphocytes may lead to chronic inflammation in SLE. The Stevens Lab members are studying how PD-L1 is regulated, and exploring the use of PD-L1 as a biomarker for SLE disease activity or replacing PD-L1 as a treatment.

Students currently training in the lab include: Brian Harrington, James Kuo.
Post-Doctoral Fellow: Jing-Ni Ou, PhD

Research Focus Area

Autoimmune Diseases

Awards and Honors

Award NameAward DescriptionAwarded ByAward Date
U.S. News Top DoctorU.S. News and World Report 2012
Seattle Magazine Top Doctor - 2012Seattle Magazine Top Doctor - 2012Seattle Magazine 2012
Seattle Magazine Top Doctor - 2011Seattle Magazine Top Doctor - 2011Seattle Magazine 2011

Publications

Neuroinflammation and demyelination in multiple sclerosis after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Archives of neurology , 2010 Jun: 716-22
Chimeric maternal cells with tissue-specific antigen expression and morphology are common in infant tissues.
Pediatric and developmental pathology : the official journal of the Society for Pediatric Pathology and the Paediatric Pathology Society , 2009 Sep-Oct: 337-46
Normally occurring NKG2D+CD4+ T cells are immunosuppressive and inversely correlated with disease activity in juvenile-onset lupus.
The Journal of experimental medicine , 2009 Apr 13: 793-805
Continued disease activity in a patient with multiple sclerosis after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.
Archives of neurology , 2009 Jan: 116-20
Are pediatric autoimmune diseases primarily genetic diseases?
Current opinion in rheumatology , 2008 Sep: 589-94
Do maternal cells trigger or perpetuate autoimmune diseases in children?
Pediatric rheumatology online journal , 2007 May 16: 9
Maternal microchimerism in peripheral blood in type 1 diabetes and pancreatic islet beta cell microchimerism.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , 2007 Jan 30: 1637-42
Maternal HLA class II compatibility in men with systemic lupus erythematosus.
Arthritis and rheumatism , 2005 Sep: 2768-73
Male microchimerism in women without sons: quantitative assessment and correlation with pregnancy history.
The American journal of medicine , 2005 Aug: 899-906
Liver biopsies from human females contain male hepatocytes in the absence of transplantation.
Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology , 2004 Dec: 1603-9
Foreign cells in polymyositis: could stem cell transplantation and pregnancy-derived chimerism lead to the same disease?
Current rheumatology reports , 2003 Dec: 437-44
Myocardial-tissue-specific phenotype of maternal microchimerism in neonatal lupus congenital heart block.
Lancet , 2003 Nov 15: 1617-23

Research Funding

Grant TitleGrantorAmountAward Date
Mechanisms of PD-L1 Dysregulation in Pediatric LupusLupus Research Institute $300,000.00Nov. 1, 2007
Maternal Microchimerism in Pediatric Systemic Lupus ErythematosusLupus Foundation of America $66,500.00Oct. 1, 2007
Maternal Microchimerism in Pediatric Systemic Lupus ErythematosusArthritis Foundation Investigator Award $180,000.00July 1, 2007
Pregnancy, Microchimerism, and Autoimmune Disease NIHApril 1, 2007
Alloimmunity in autoimmune diseaseNIHAug. 1, 1999
Mechanisms of Tolerance to Renal Maternal MicrochimerismNIH $07.01.071,250,000.00

Primary Office

Seattle Children's
MA.7.110 - Rheumatology
4800 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
206-987-2057

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