Research Interests: My research focuses on understanding the molecular patho-mechanisms of antibody-mediated glomerular disease. My lab has studied the structure of type IV collagen and its role in inherited and immune diseases affecting the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). We are using the paradigm of Goodpasture disease to address the mechanisms eliciting abnormal immune responses against α345(IV) collagen and how the resulting anti-GBM antibodies mediate glomerulonephritis. This work has elucidated the organization of Goodpasture autoantigen and other collagen IV networks and the mechanisms of their specific assembly, providing a framework for understanding how tolerance to collagen IV is established in health and breached in anti-GBM antibody disease. We have discovered how the assembly of α345(IV) collagen into quaternary structures hides cryptic B cell auto-epitopes while also creating new quaternary epitopes, thereby shaping immune tolerance and autoimmune responses toward collagen IV. Our current efforts are directed at solving the conundrum of how predominantly IgG4 immune complexes activate complement in membranous nephropathy.
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- Vanderbilt Center for Matrix Biology
Faculty Member
Dept. of Microbiology, Meharry Medical College
1005 Dr. D. B. Todd Jr. Blvd.
4115 West Basic Sciences Bldg.
Nashville, TN 37208
USA
615-963-2833 (p)
MeSH terms are retrieved from PubMed records. Learn more.
Key: MeSH Term Keyword
Adolescent Adoptive Transfer Alport syndrome Amino Acid Sequence Animals, Newborn anti-GBM antibody disease Antibodies Biopsy, Needle CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes Chromosomes, Human, X complement Epitopes F2-Isoprostanes Fibronectins glomerular basement membrane Glomerular Filtration Rate Goodpasture disease Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans Kidney Transplantation membranous nephropathy Mesangial Cells Mice, Inbred Strains Models, Biological Models, Molecular Molecular Sequence Data Motor Activity neonatal Fc receptor Neovascularization, Pathologic Ovalbumin Peptide Fragments Pericytes Plasma Exchange Protein Isoforms Recurrence Solutions Survival Transplantation, Homologous type IV collagen