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ELOVAARA Irina

Tel.: +358 3 311 66692

Fax: +358 3 311 64351

e-mail: irina.elovaara@uta.fi

 

Address

Medical School, Department of Neurology

K- Building

33014 University of Tampere

Tampere - FINLAND

Research themes

Immunology and pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis (immune cell traffic into CNS, apoptosis of immune cells, genetic susceptibility, markers of disease activity, immunomodulatory treatments of MS).

Key words

Inflammatory mediators (adhesion molecules, chemokines, chemokine receptors, cytokines) apoptosis, (Fas Fas ligand autoantibodies), genetic susceptibility.

Methods

Protein analyses (PAGE, TEF), molecular biology (RT-PCR, PCR quantitation GeneQuant Software, real-time PCR (LightCycler), DNA chip technology, tissue chip technology, ribonuclease protection assay, immunocytochemistry, tissue culturing (freshly isolated blood cells, central nervous system cell cultures), ELISA, electrophysiology (patch-clamp).

Composition of the research group

Irina ELOVAARA

MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology

Hanna KUUSISTO

MD, Neurologist

Terho LEHTIMÄKI

MD, PhD, Genetics

Silja SÄRKIJÄRVI

MSc, Biochemist

Raija PAALAVUO

Bioanalyst

Maritta UKKONEN

MD, Neurologist

Prasun DASTIDAR

MD, Neuroradiologist

Tarja VAHVELAINEN

MA, Neuropsychologist

Recent publications

  1. ELOVAARA I, SABRI F, GRAY P, ALAFUZOFF I, CHIODI F. Expression of Fas and Fas ligand in brain through the spectrum of HIV infection. Acta Neuropath 1999; 98:355-362.

  2. DASTIDAR P, HEINONEN T, LEHTIMÄKI T, UKKONEN M, PELTOLA J, ETILA T, LAASONEN E, ELOVAARA I. Volumes of brain atrophy and plaques correlated with neurological disability in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. J Neurol Sci 1999; 165.36-42.

  3. LUOMALA M, ELOVAARA I, KOIVULA T, LEHTIMÄKI T. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 K/E 469 polymorphism and multiple sclerosis. Ann Neurol 1999; 45(4):546-7.

  4. ELOVAARA I, UKKONEN M, LEPPÄKYNNSS M, PELTOLA J, LEHTIMÄKI T, DASTIDAR P. Expression of leukocyte and soluble adhesion molecules in multiple sclerosis: relation to type of disease and methylprednisolone therapy. Arch Neurol 2000; 57:546-551.

  5. LUOMALA M, ELOVAARA I, UKKONEN M, KOIVULA T, LEHTIMÄKI T. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 gene and risk of multiple sclerosis in women. Neurology 2000; 54: 1862 - 1864.

  6. SABRI F, DEMILITO A, MATELL R, ELOVAARA I, HAGBERG L, CINQUE P, PRICE R, CHIODI F. Soluble Fas and Fas ligand levels are elevated in the cerebro- spinal fluid of HIV-1 infected patients: correlation to AIDS dementia. J Neuroimmunol 2001; 114 (1-2):197-206.

  7. LUOMALA M, ELOVAARA I, UKKONEN M, KOIVULA T, LEHTIMÄKI T. The combination of HLA DR1 and DR53 in the protection of multiple sclerosis. Neurology 2001; 56(3):383-5.

  8. LUOMALA M, LEHTIMÄKI T, ELOVAARA I, SANTTILA S, WANG X, UKKONEN M, LAIPPALA P, KOIVULA T, HURME M. Interleukin-1 region genes and multiple sclerosis. J Neurol Sci 2001; 185 (2):123-7.

  9. MATTILA KM, LUOMALA M, LEHTIMÄKI T, KOIVULA T, ELOVAARA I. PvuII polymorphism of the estrogen receptor 1 gene is associated with multiple sclerosis in women carrying the HLA-DR2 allele. Neurology 2001; 56(9):1246-7

  10. PELTOLA J, UKKONEN M, MOILANEN E, ELOVAARA I. Increased levels of NO oxidation products in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. Neurology 2001; 57 (5):895-6.

  11. JALONEN T, PULKKINEN K, ELOVAARA I. Differential expression of intracellular CCR5 and chemokines in multiple sclerosis suptypes. J Neurol 2002; 249(5); 576-83.

  12. SAARELA J, SCHOENBERG FM, CHEN D, FINNILA S, PARKKONEN M, KUOKKANEN S, SOBEL E, TIENARI PJ, SUMELAHTI ML, WIKSTROM J, ELOVAARA I, KOIVISTO K, PIRTTILA T, REUNANEN M, PALOTIE A, PELTONEN L. Fine mapping of a multiple sclerosis locus to 2.5 Mb on chromosome 17q22-q23. Hum Mol Genet, 2002 Sep 15; 11: 2257-67.

  13. PIHLAJA H, RANTAMÄKI T, WIKSTRÖM J, SUMELAHTI M-L, LAAKSONEN M, ILONEN J, RUUTIAINEN J, PIRTTILÄ T, ELOVAARA I, REUNANEN M, KUOKKANEN S, PELTONEN L, KOIVISTO K, TIENARI PJ. Linkage dusequilibrium between the MBP tetranucleotide repeat and multiple sclerosis is restricted to a geographically-defined subpopulation in Finland. Genes Immun. 2003; 4(2): 138-46.

  14. UKKONEN M, DASTIDAR P, HEINONEN T, ELOVAARA I. Volumetric quantitation by MRI in primary progressive multiple sclerosis: volumes of plaques and atrophy correlated with neurological disability. Eur J Neurol. 2003 Nov;10(6):663-9.

  15. LUOMALA M, LEHTIMÄKI T, UKKONEN M, KOIVULA T, HURME M, ELOVAARA I. Promoter polymorphism of IL-10 and severity of multiple sclerosis. Acta Neurol Scand. 2003 Dec;108(6):396-400.

  16. PULKKINEN K, LUOMALA M, LEHTIMÄKI T, SAARELA M, JALONEN T, ELOVAARA I. The effect of genotype on CCR5 expression in multiple sclerosis, Acta Neurol Scand, in press.

  17. BONETTI A, REUNANEN K, FINNILÄ S, KOIVISTO K, WICKSTRÖM J, SUMELAHTI M-L, PIRTTILÄ T, ELOVAARA I, REUNANEN M, SAARELA J, PELTONEN L, RANTAMÄKI T, TIENARI P.J. Multiple sclerosis and 2q33. Genes and Immunity, (accepted).

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