Matyas Sandor

Research Interests

Immune responses to infectious disease

Detail:

We study the role of T cells in granulomatous immune responses induced by various infectious agents including Schistosoma mansoni, Leishmania donovani and Mycobacterium bovis. Granulomas are localized inflammatory reactions in which both T cells and the infectious agents are colocalized in the lesion. Granulomas protect the host against infection but can also cause diseases such as sarcoidosis or Crohn’s disease. Using T cells from TCR transgenic mice as a source of monoclonal T cells of known antigen specificity and infectious agents that are transfected with the same antigenic epitope recognized by the TCR transgene we examine how T cells fight chronic infections. We are also interested in how different T cells work together. We study how antibodies and antibody associated effector pathways mediated by complement and Fc receptors interfere with T cell responses. We hope our studies will contibute to the creation of better vaccines and better treatments for granulomatous diseases.

Selected Publications

• Fabry Z, Schreiber HA, Harris MG, Sandor M. “Sensing the microenvironment of the central nervous system: immune cells in the central nervous system and their pharmacological manipulation.” Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2008;8(4):496-507.
• Zozulya AL, Ortler S, Lee JE, et al. “Intracerebral dendritic cells critically modulate encephalitogenic versus regulatory immune responses in the CNS.” J. Neurosci.. 2009;29(1):140-52.
• Lee JE, Reinke EK, Zozulya AL, Sandor M, Fabry Z. “Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin infection in the CNS suppresses experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and Th17 responses in an IFN-gamma-independent manner.” J. Immunol.. 2008;181(9):6201-12.

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