LABS

Jerrold Levine Lab

The focus of our research is the role of dead or dying cells in health and disease, especially that within the kidney and the immune system. This has involved two complementary sets of studies and perspectives: (1) alterations in the function of live cells, especially kidney epithelial cells and macrophages, following their receptor-mediated interaction with nearby dead or dying cells (apoptotic and necrotic); and (2) dead cells as a source of auto-antigen and/or immunogen in autoimmune disease, especially systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the anti-phospholipid syndrome (APLS). Within the kidney, interaction with neighboring apoptotic cells causes live cells to stop dividing, cease metabolic activity, and even to die. This effect is specific to kidney cells, as interaction with apoptotic cells causes cells from other organs to proliferate and grow. Our lab is actively studying the mechanisms and consequences of these phenomena.

Patel VA, Massenburg D, Vujicic S, Feng L, Tang M, Litbarg N, Antoni A, Rauch J, Lieberthal W, Levine JS. Apoptotic cells activate AMPK and inhibit epithelial cell growth without change in intracellular energy stores. J. Biol. Chem. 290: 22352-22369 2015 [PMID: 26183782].

Patel VA, Feng L, Lee DJ, Massenburg D, Pattabiraman G, Antoni A, Schwartz JH, Lieberthal W, Rauch J, Ucker DS, Levine JS. Recognition-dependent signaling events in response to apoptotic targets inhibit epithelial cell viability by multiple mechanisms: implications for non-immune tissue homeostasis. J. Biol. Chem. 287: 13761-13777, 2012 [PMID: 22396534].

Levine JS, Subang R, Nasr SH, Fournier S, Lajoie G, Wither J, Rauch J. Immunization with the apoptotic cell binding protein, β2-glycoprotein I, in the presence of lipopolysaccharide recapitulates both autoantibody emergence and nephritis of human SLE. J. Immunol. 177: 6504–6516, 2006 (PMID: 17056583).

INSTRUCTIONS: In order to add a sidebar anchor:

  1. Duplicate the existing item, listed as a 1/6 text field. (Or create a 1/6 column and add a text field, modify the class so it’s exactly “additionalAnchor”).
  2. Modify the text field inside the 1/6 column. Inside there, modify the HYPERLINK so that it would go to a corresponding section with a “#” in front of it. (Example, we have a “chief” section on the page, then it would make sense to have the hyperlink go to “#chief”)
  3. Then change the hyperlink TEXT to a appropriate label.
  4. IMPORTANT: If not done already, go into that CONTAINER that corresponds to your anchor (i.e. Meet The Chiefs), and add an ID matching the anchor’s HYPERLINK WITHOUT the “#”, i.e. “chief”.
  5. (If using side bar widget box, then there’s a saved copy of a widget box COLUMN, grab it in the column library, it should 1/6 of a length of a column.)

NOTE: Order added to the sidebar is from last to first.