Washington University in St. Louis (WU)
Our laboratory studies the immune response. We currently have two primary interests, mechanisms of natural killer (NK) cell activation and the regulation of the immune response in patients with autoimmune disease. NK cells are innate immune lymphocytes that are important for control of infection and we recently described that they have the capacity for immunologic memory, a function that was thought to be limited to adaptive T and B lymphocytes. These findings have clinical relevance to adoptive immunotherapy of cancers with NK cells, since pre-conditioning of cells and differentiation of memory-like NK cells may Our laboratory studies the immune response. We currently have two primary interests, mechanisms of natural killer (NK) cell activation and the regulation of the immune response in patients with autoimmune disease. NK cells are innate immune lymphocytes that are important for control of infection and we recently described that they have the capacity for immunologic memory, a function that was thought to be limited to adaptive T and B lymphocytes. These findings have clinical relevance to adoptive immunotherapy of cancers with NK cells, since pre-conditioning of cells and differentiation of memory-like NK cells may provide a beneficial anti-tumor response. The other major focus of our laboratory is the dysregulation of the immune response seen in pediatric patients with autoimmunity. Specifically, we are investigating whether somatic defects in immune cells lead to the development of autoimmunity by allowing the survival of self-reactive lymphocytes.