Conjoint Immune Dysregulation Clinic

We provide care for patients with autoimmune conditions affecting their blood cells.

Our immunologists and hematology-oncology physicians work together to provide comprehensive care for patients with conditions including:

  • Complex autoimmune cytopenia conditions: Conditions in which antibodies in the body destroy healthy blood cells.
  • Lymphoproliferative conditions: Conditions that involve intermittent or prolonged enlargement of the lymph nodes or spleen.
  • Hyper inflammatory diseases: Conditions that cause patients to develop high fevers and signs of systemic inflammation.

We provide in-depth immune phenotyping and genetic sequencing to accurately diagnose patients’ conditions. Treatment to promote blood cell growth includes the use of biological therapies targeting specific immune pathways. Biological therapies are types of medications that are created using advanced technologies and allow us to suppress or stimulate a patient’s immune system in a highly-targeted way.

The team, with care provided by physicians Jolan Walter, M.D., Ph.D., and Jennifer Leiding, M.D., offers a personalized treatment approach to address your child’s specific condition and underlying cause, so they receive treatment that meets their individual needs. For immune deficient patients who are prone to infection, this helps us to better balance their immune system.

Among the individual conditions we treat are:

  • Autoimmune hemolytic anemia
  • Autoimmune neutropenia
  • Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP)

These conditions are complex, and it can be difficult to diagnose the underlying cause. We estimate that 10-40% of these patients have an underlying immune deficiency. There are hundreds of genes that can cause immune deficiencies, with new ones continually identified. Our understanding of all these genes changes rapidly. As an academic medical center, our experts have the clinical and research experience needed to diagnose and treat these complex conditions.

Our in-house immunological tools allow us to evaluate our patients more quickly, provide an accurate diagnosis (and in some cases, correct a previous misdiagnosis), and provide highly targeted treatment for diseases linked to immune dysregulation that can otherwise be misunderstood.

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We see patients in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Outpatient Care, St. Petersburg (main campus) and Outpatient Care, Tampa.