The laboratory of Andrew Plaut, MD at Tufts Medical Center is focused the area of mucosal immunology and microbiology, and he is presently focused on diseases mediated by IgA deposition into tissues, most notably the kidney disease IgA nephropathy (Berger’s disease). This is a leading cause of glomerulonephritis worldwide and the most common cause of kidney failure based on injury to the kidney glomeruli.
Dr. Plaut and his colleague Dr. Jiazhou Qiu are developing bacterial IgA proteases for treatment of these disorders, with the intent to reverse the kidney inflammation that leads to kidney failure. Earlier, Dr. Plaut collaborated with Dr. William Bachovchin at Tufts University’s Department of Biochemistry in developing the DPPIV inhibitory drugs now being used to treat Type II diabetes.
Dr. Plaut is a staff physician with particular interests in digestive diseases, specifically those patients who have unexplained abdominal pain, diarrhea, abnormal digestion and absorption from the intestine and inflammatory diseases of both the upper and lower intestine, including inflammatory bowel disease.