 |
Alexander Khoruts, M.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Medicine
University of Minnesota, 1989, M.D.
khoru001@tc.umn.edu
612-624-2101 office
612-626-4261 lab
|
Research Interests:
Immunologic Tolerance, autoimmunity, mucosal immunopathology.
Basic Immunology texts teach that the central and peripheral
tolerance mechanisms ensure that self-reactive T cells are
purged from the T cell repertoire. However, it is clear that
this view is overly simplistic. Interactions of T cells with
self-ligands are critical for their peripheral homeostasis
and reactivity toward foreign antigens. Furthermore, suppressor
T cells, e.g., CD25+CD4 T cells, appear to defy negative selection
and be specific for self-antigens. In addition, the very notion
of “self” is somewhat difficult to define if one
considers continuous exposure of the immune system to enteric
and skin flora. We are probing these questions in the laboratory
by dissecting the behavior of T cell directly in vivo. The
dominant themes in the laboratory include:
- Mechanisms of suppression mediated by regulatory CD25+CD4
T cells.
- Peripheral mechanisms that shape the T cell repertoire,
especially following recovery from lymphopenic states.
- The roles of self-ligands in T cell reactivity toward
foreign antigens.
- Mechanisms of tolerance toward enteric flora.
Although most of our work deals with systems involving model
nominal antigens, we are very interested in autoimmunity.
We are actively studying models of inflammatory bowel disease
and have recently developed a novel murine model of atopic
dermatitis.
Selected Recent Publications:
- Thorstenson KM, Herzovi L, Khoruts A. 2005. A model of suppression of the antigen-specific CD4 T cell response by regulatory CD25+CD4 T cells in vivo. Int Immunol. 17(4):335-42.
- Hagen KA, Moses CT, Drasler EF, Podetz-Pedersen KM, Jameson SC, Khoruts A. 2004. A role for CD28 in lymphopenia-induced proliferation of CD4 T cells. J Immunol. 173(6):3909-15.
- Reinhardt, R.L., A. Khoruts, R. Merica, T. Zell, and M.K.
Jenkins. 2001. Visualizing the generation of memory CD4
T cells in the whole body. Nature.
401:101-105.
- Thorstenson, K.M., and A. Khoruts. 2001. Generation of
anergic and potentially immunoregulatory CD25+CD4+ T cells
in vivo following induction of peripheral tolerance with
intravenous or oral antigen. J.
Immunol. 167:188-195.
Last modified on: October 24, 2006
|
