Immunology Faculty Member - K. Frank Austen, MD

K. Frank Austen

Astra Zeneca Professor of Respiratory and Inflammatory Diseases Emertius
Department of Medicine, Emertius

Brigham and Women's Hospital
Department of Medicine; Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy
Building for Transformative Medicine
60 Fenwood Road, 5th Floor, Room 5002X
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: 617-525-1300
Fax: 617-525-1310
Email: fausten@research.bwh.harvard.edu



The central focus of the laboratory continues to be on the molecular and cellular biology of the mast cell, the pathways of arachidonic acid metabolism to cysteinyl leukotrienes and prostanoids, and the cytokine regulation of the action of each of these components of allergic inflammation. As there is substantial evidence that innate signals are particularly prominent in allergic diseases, there is increasing attention to the adjuvants within the household allergens that accompany the immunogenic epitopes and on the priming or even circumvention of DC responses by innate effectors such as basophils, mast cells, eosinophils and epithelial cell derived cytokines.













Last Update: 6/8/2020



Publications

Ago H, Kanaoka Y, Irikura D, Lam BK, Shimamura T, Austen KF, Miyano M. Crystal structure of a human membraine protein involved in cysteinyl leukotriene biosynthesis. Nature. 2007;448:609-12.

Barrett NA, Maekawa A, Rahman OM, Austen KF, Kanaoka Y. Dectin-2 recognition of house dust mite triggers cysteinyl leukotriene generation by dendritic cells. J Immunol. 2009;182:1119-28.

Barrett NA, Rahman OM, Fernandez JM, Parsons MW, Xing W, Austen KF, Kanaoka Y. Dectin-2 mediates Th2 immunity through the generation of cysteinyl leukotrienes. J Exp Med. 2011; 208:593-604.

Gurish MF and Austen KF. Developmental Origin and Functional Specialization of Mast Cell Subsets. Immunity. 2012, 37:25-33.

Liu AY, Dwyer DF, Jones TG, Bankova LG, Shen S, Katz HR, Austen KF, Gurish MF. Mast Cells Recruited to Mesenteric Lymph Nodes during Helminth Infection Remain Hypogranular and Produce IL-4 and IL-6. J Immunol. 2013, 190(4):1758-66.

Kanaoka Y, Maekawa, Austen KF. Identification of GPR99 Protein as a Potential Third Cysteinyl Leukotriene Receptor with a Preference for Leukotriene E4 Ligand. J Biol Chem. 2013, 288:10967-10972. Report



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