Anne O'Garra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1954 (age 69–70) |
| Website | http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/a.ogarra  |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | Adhesion of coagulase negative staphyloccoci to human ephithelial cells (1983) |
| Website | www |
Anne O'Garra FRS FMedSci (born 1954) [1] is a British immunologist who has made important discoveries on the mechanism of action of Interleukin 10. [2] [3]
O'Garra was born in Gibraltar.
She was born to Louis O,Garra and Theresa O Garra in 1954, as a child she was noted as having a keen mind.
From 1977 to 1980, O'Garra studied at Chelsea College, University of London, and graduated with a B.Sc. (first class honours) in microbiology and biochemistry. [4]
At the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), she earned her Ph.D. in microbiology, staying on there for a four-year post-doctorate in immunology.
In 1987, O'Garra left England for Palo Alto, California, to work for the DNAX Research Institute, where by 2000 she had become a principal staff scientist in the department of immunobiology. [5] In 2001, she became the head of the Division of Immunoregulation at the Medical Research Council NIMR in London. [6] Since 2015, she has been an associate research director and group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, the successor institute to the NIMR.
O'Garra is known for her contributions to the understanding of the intricate network of cell-cell and cytokine interactions regulating the induction and suppression of cellular immune responses. She was the first to discover the immunosuppressive functions of Interleukin-10 (IL-10), which inhibits antigen presentation by dendritic cells and macrophages and reduces their production of proinflammatory cytokines. She also discovered that dendritic cells produce the interleukin essential for activation of T-cells (IL-12) and subsequent eradication of intracellular pathogens and that IL-10 regulates this production. [7]
She is a fellow of the Royal Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Academy of Medical Sciences. She is an honorary member of the British Society for Immunology. [8] In 2020, the International Cytokine and Interferon Society bestowed an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award to O'Garra for her seminal and original contributions to the field. [9]
The T helper cells (Th cells), also known as CD4+ cells or CD4-positive cells, are a type of T cell that play an important role in the adaptive immune system. They aid the activity of other immune cells by releasing cytokines. They are considered essential in B cell antibody class switching, breaking cross-tolerance in dendritic cells, in the activation and growth of cytotoxic T cells, and in maximizing bactericidal activity of phagocytes such as macrophages and neutrophils. CD4+ cells are mature Th cells that express the surface protein CD4. Genetic variation in regulatory elements expressed by CD4+ cells determines susceptibility to a broad class of autoimmune diseases.
Interleukin 10 (IL-10), also known as human cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor (CSIF), is an anti-inflammatory cytokine. In humans, interleukin 10 is encoded by the IL10 gene. IL-10 signals through a receptor complex consisting of two IL-10 receptor-1 and two IL-10 receptor-2 proteins. Consequently, the functional receptor consists of four IL-10 receptor molecules. IL-10 binding induces STAT3 signalling via the phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic tails of IL-10 receptor 1 + IL-10 receptor 2 by JAK1 and Tyk2 respectively.
Interleukin 12 (IL-12) is an interleukin that is naturally produced by dendritic cells, macrophages, neutrophils, helper T cells and human B-lymphoblastoid cells (NC-37) in response to antigenic stimulation. IL-12 belongs to the family of interleukin-12. IL-12 family is unique in comprising the only heterodimeric cytokines, which includes IL-12, IL-23, IL-27 and IL-35. Despite sharing many structural features and molecular partners, they mediate surprisingly diverse functional effects.
The interleukin 4 is a cytokine that induces differentiation of naive helper T cells (Th0 cells) to Th2 cells. Upon activation by IL-4, Th2 cells subsequently produce additional IL-4 in a positive feedback loop. IL-4 is produced primarily by mast cells, Th2 cells, eosinophils and basophils. It is closely related and has functions similar to IL-13.
Tadamitsu Kishimoto is a Japanese immunologist known for research on IgM and cytokines, most famously, interleukin 6.
Jan T. Vilček is a Slovak-American biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist. He is a professor in the department of microbiology at the New York University School of Medicine, and chairman and CEO of The Vilcek Foundation. Vilček received his M.D. degree from Comenius University Medical School in Bratislava in 1957; and his Ph.D. in Virology from the Institute of Virology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, in 1962.
Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IL15 gene. IL-15 is an inflammatory cytokine with structural similarity to Interleukin-2 (IL-2). Like IL-2, IL-15 binds to and signals through a complex composed of IL-2/IL-15 receptor beta chain (CD122) and the common gamma chain. IL-15 is secreted by mononuclear phagocytes following infection by virus(es). This cytokine induces the proliferation of natural killer cells, i.e. cells of the innate immune system whose principal role is to kill virally infected cells.
Interleukin 30 (IL-30) forms one chain of the heterodimeric cytokine called interleukin 27 (IL-27), thus it is also called IL27-p28. IL-27 is composed of α chain p28 and β chain Epstain-Barr induce gene-3 (EBI3). The p28 subunit, or IL-30, has an important role as a part of IL-27, but it can be secreted as a separate monomer and has its own functions in the absence of EBI3. The discovery of IL-30 as individual cytokine is relatively new and thus its role in the modulation of the immune response is not fully understood.
Interleukin-22 (IL-22) is protein that in humans is encoded by the IL22 gene.
Interleukin 19 (IL-19) is an immunosuppressive protein that belongs to the IL-10 cytokine subfamily.
An alveolar macrophage, pulmonary macrophage, is a type of macrophage, a professional phagocyte, found in the airways and at the level of the alveoli in the lungs, but separated from their walls.
Interleukin 20 receptors (IL20R) belong to the IL-10 family. IL20R are involved in both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory immune response. There are two types of IL20R: Type I and Type II.
Interleukin-28 receptor is a type II cytokine receptor found largely in epithelial cells. It binds type 3 interferons, interleukin-28 A, Interleukin-28B, interleukin 29 and interferon lambda 4. It consists of an α chain and shares a common β subunit with the interleukin-10 receptor. Binding to the interleukin-28 receptor, which is restricted to select cell types, is important for fighting infection. Binding of the type 3 interferons to the receptor results in activation of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway.
The IL-10 family is a family of interleukins.
István Rosztóczy was a Hungarian microbiologist, medical researcher, blood donor organizer, who devoted his life to research and science.
Paola Ricciardi-Castagnoli, is an Italian Immunologist based in Siena, Italy. Paola is the scientific director of Toscana Life Sciences Foundation (TLS) in Siena. She was former scientific director of the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN).
Interleukin 23 (IL-23) is a heterodimeric cytokine composed of an IL-12B (IL-12p40) subunit and an IL-23A (IL-23p19) subunit. IL-23 is part of the IL-12 family of cytokines. The functional receptor for IL-23 consists of a heterodimer between IL-12Rβ1 and IL-23R.
Cytokine-induced killer cells (CIK) cells are a group of immune effector cells featuring a mixed T- and natural killer (NK) cell-like phenotype. They are generated by ex vivo incubation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) or cord blood mononuclear cells with interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), anti-CD3 antibody, recombinant human interleukin (IL)-1 and recombinant human interleukin (IL)-2.
Keiko Ozato is a Japanese American geneticist whose research has focused on gene regulation in the developing immune system; She is best known for her contributions to immunogenetics and epigenetics in isolating the IRF8 transcription factor that aids humans in fighting off disease and for identifying the BRD4 protein that regulates cellular and viral genes that can invoke epigenetic memory. She is Senior Investigator at the Section on Molecular Genetics of Immunity at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland and a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Type 1 regulatory cells or Tr1 (TR1) cells are a class of regulatory T cells participating in peripheral immunity as a subsets of CD4+ T cells. Tr1 cells regulate tolerance towards antigens of any origin. Tr1 cells are self or non-self antigen specific and their key role is to induce and maintain peripheral tolerance and suppress tissue inflammation in autoimmunity and graft vs. host disease.