Nisha Limaye

Major achievements

• 2024 Lupus Innovation Award (2025)
• Invited speaker, closed workshop of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, USA (2023)
• Cristina Pivetta prize for research on systemic sclerosis (2020)
• Prix Lambertine Lacroix for translational research on cardio-vascular diseases (2017)

Question

What are the inherited and acquired genetic factors that (i) dysregulate the human immune system, and (ii) that determine whether an organ is more or less susceptible to the resulting damage?

Research focus

Our immune system, responsible for defending us against harmful pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, can sometimes turn on us. It may mistake components of our own cells for foreign invaders, or react too zealously against perceived threats, causing significant collateral damage to our own tissues and organs. The resulting autoimmunity and systemic autoinflammation can be devastating. On the flip side, inadequate surveillance or responsiveness of the immune system to abnormal ‘self’ cells can allow for the unchecked growth of cancers.

Our laboratory explores genetic factors, whether inherited (germline variants) or acquired (somatic mutations in certain cell-types or tissues), that contribute to such immune imbalances. We also study the molecular and cellular characteristics that determine how resilient a given organ or system is to the resulting damage. Our research is rooted in the analysis of tissue or blood samples generously provided by patients with autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders such as systemic sclerosis (SSc), lupus nephritis (LN) and inborn errors of immunity (IEI), and immune cell cancers sometimes associated with such conditions. This would be impossible without a close, active collaboration with a network of rheumatologists and haematologists with extensive expertise in these complex conditions, invested in using translational research to continually improve patient care. By understanding not only the genetic factors that initiate disease, but also the cellular and molecular determinants of disease progression and treatment-response, we aim to contribute to the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of these conditions.

Projects

• Are all hexokinases created equal? The role of hexokinase 3 (HK3) in Hodgkin lymphoma
• Whole exome sequencing for the diagnosis and treatment of inborn errors of immunity (IEI)
• CD8+ T cells and their interaction with resident renal cells in lupus nephritis
• The genetic basis of inherited Systemic sclerosis (SSc): What do rare families tell us?

Nisha Limaye obtained a Ph.D. in Immunogenetics in 2005, in the laboratory of Dr. Edward K. Wakeland at UTSouthwestern Medical Center (Dallas, USA). Her thesis focused on a polymorphic family of genes responsible for breaking self-tolerance to nuclear antigens, initiating spontaneous autoimmunity in a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She then moved to the laboratory of Prof. Miikka Vikkula in the de Duve Institute as a post-doctoral fellow, studying the genetic basis of vascular malformations. Complementary to her background in mouse models and complex disease genetics, this built her expertise in the use of Next Generation Sequencing in the elucidation of rare, mono- and oligo-genic human disease. In 2010, she became a chercheur qualifiée (Research Associate) of the F.R.S.-F.N.R.S., leading a team in the Vikkula lab. In 2018, she became a Group Leader in the de Duve Institute. Her team studies genetic drivers and tissue-based mechanisms involved in immune dysregulation disorders.

Honors

• Board, Belgian Royal Society of Rheumatology (KBVR-SRBR) (2021-present)
• Cristina Pivetta prize for research on systemic sclerosis (2020)
• Secretary, Board of the Belgian Society of Human Genetics (BeSHG) (2018-2022)
• Prix Lambertine Lacroix for translational research on cardio-vascular diseases (2017)
• Prix Léopold & Marthe Delsaux-Champy for fundamental research in the prevention, treatment or pathophysiology of cardio-vascular diseases (2013)

Affiliations

• Chercheur qualifiée, F.R.S.-F.N.R.S.
• Group Leader, de Duve Institute
• Chargée de cours à temps partiel, UCLouvain