Marcus Altfeld
Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard
Massachusetts General Hospital East
Bldg. 149, 13th Street, 6th floor
Charlestown, MA 02129
Tel: 617-724-2461
Fax: 617-724-8586
e-mail: maltfeld@partners.org
2 junior faculty, 4 post-docs, 1 Graduate Student, 1 Undergraduate Student
The Altfeld laboratory studies innate and adaptive immune responses in HIV-1 infection
The laboratory has four major areas of interest: a) The analysis of HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cell responses in Acute HIV-1 Infection, with particular focus on the mechanisms that determine the functionality and immunodominance of HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cell responses during the initial phase of HIV-1 infection. b) The analysis of Innate Immune Responses in HIV-1 infection, specifically focusing on the role of NK cells in HIV-1 infection and the impact of Toll-like Receptor (TLR) ligands on the function of NK and T cells. c) Thirdly, we are involved in monitoring changes in the HIV-1-specific T cell response in HIV-1-infected individuals undergoing therapeutic immunizations to understand the immune correlates of viral control. d) Finally, we are interested in characterizing the HIV-1 specific immune responses in populations of different ethnicities affected by the HIV-1 epidemic, and have close collaboration with the HIV-1 Pathogenesis Program at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention (NCAIDS) at the Chinese CDC in Beijing, and the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Tangdu Hospital in Xi’an, China.
References:
1: Alter G, Kavanagh D, Rihn S, Luteijn R, Brooks D, Oldstone M, van Lunzen J,
Altfeld M. IL-10 induces aberrant deletion of dendritic cells by natural killer cells in the context of HIV infection. J Clin Invest. 2010 Jun 1;120(6):1905-13.
doi: 10.1172/JCI40913. Epub 2010 May 3.
2: Meier A, Chang JJ, Chan ES, Pollard RB, Sidhu HK, Kulkarni S, Wen TF, Lindsay RJ, Orellana L, Mildvan D, Bazner S, Streeck H, Alter G, Lifson JD, Carrington M, Bosch RJ, Robbins GK, Altfeld M. Sex differences in the Toll-like receptor-mediated response of plasmacytoid dendritic cells to HIV-1. Nat Med. 2009 Aug;15(8):955-9. Epub 2009 Jul 13.
3: Streeck H, Brumme ZL, Anastario M, Cohen KW, Jolin JS, Meier A, Brumme CJ,
Rosenberg ES, Alter G, Allen TM, Walker BD, Altfeld M. Antigen load and viral sequence diversification determine the functional profile of HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cells. PLoS Med. 2008 May 6;5(5):e100.
4: Alter G, Martin MP, Teigen N, Carr WH, Suscovich TJ, Schneidewind A, Streeck
H, Waring M, Meier A, Brander C, Lifson JD, Allen TM, Carrington M, Altfeld M. Differential natural killer cell-mediated inhibition of HIV-1 replication based on distinct KIR/HLA subtypes. J Exp Med. 2007 Nov 26;204(12):3027-36.
5: Altfeld M, Goulder P. 'Unleashed' natural killers hinder HIV. Nat Genet. 2007 Jun;39(6):708-10.
Immunology webpage updated 6/30/2010