Current Projects

• Macrophages and plague 
  Submitted by Christian Demeure  (Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) 6/4/2010
  Macrophages are a site of intracellular replication for Yersinia pestis, agent of plague. In order to better understand the role of macrophages in murine plague, we will use clodronate liposomes to deplete macrophages and monitor the dissemination of bacteria and the survival of mice. We will analyze cytokine production in vivo in macrophage-depleted animals and the subsequent inflammatory events.



• Liver tolerance 
  Submitted by Xu Long  (University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China) 4/6/2010
  To test whether Kupffer cells play a critical role in inducing liver tolerance to non-self antigen.



• Use of TLR ligands in tumor immunotherapy 
  Submitted by Julie Magarian Blander  (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States) 6/3/2010
  Our preliminary results suggest that the provision of a ligand for Toll-like receptors (TLRs) within transplantable tumor cells converts their silent phagocytosis into inflammatory phagocytosis and increases tumor-associated antigen presentation to specific CD8 and CD4 T cells. Injection of TLR-expressing cells into the peritoneum of wild type but not Myd88-deficient mice induces the recruitment of inflammatory cells to the peritoneal cavity. We are now investigating the role of macrophages in the elimination of these cells and in the initiation of subsequent inflammatory events.
  More: http://www.mountsinai.org/profiles/julie-magarian-blander?id=0000072500001497300942



• Macrophage and Streptococcus pneumoniae 
  Submitted by Saumyaa Saumyaa  (HJF/USUHS, Bethesda, Maryland, United States) 3/6/2010
  To study the effect of macrophage depletion on adaptive immune response against Streptococcus pneumoniae and soluble protein antigen



• liver ischemia 
  Submitted by Yuan Zhai  (University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States) 2/6/2010
  innate immune activation and T cells



• Dependence of immunological effector functions on Macrophages 
  Submitted by Markus Biburger  (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; Chair of Genetics, Erlangen, Germany) 5/31/2010
  We want to test the importance of Macrophage populations for several immunological effector functions like ADCC.



• FUNDACION INVESTIGACION MEDICA APLICADA 
  Submitted by ELIZALDE LABIANO  (FIMA, PAMPLONA, Spain) 5/26/2010
  RESEARCH
  More: http://www.unav.es



• Splenic Macrophages in Atherosclerosis 
  Submitted by Philipp Rauch  (Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States) 5/25/2010
  This project will investigate the contribution of splenic macrophage populations (red pulp, metallophilic, marginal zone) to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in a mouse model of the disease, exploiting the differential repopulation kinetics after injection of clodronate liposomes.



• Targeting Macrophages in Mesothelioma 
  Submitted by Collin Blakely  (UCSF, San Francisco, CA, United States) 5/25/2010
  Mesothelioma is a life-threatening tumor, induced by inhalation of asbestos fibers, which is largely resistant to most chemotherapeutic approaches. In order to better understand the role of macrophages in malignant mesothelioma we will use clodronate liposomes to deplete macrophage populations to determine the effect of macrophage depletion on the disease progression in the murine mesothelioma model.



• Macrophage depletion in pulmonary fibrosis 
  Submitted by Redente Elizabeth  (National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, United States) 5/24/2010
  In order to better understand the role of macrophages in pulmonary fibrosis we will use clodronate liposomes to deplete a variety of macrophage populations at different stages of disease progression a murine model.