Eleanor Fish

Last updated
Eleanor N. Fish

CM
Born
London
Alma mater
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Toronto
Thesis Structure/function studies on recombinant DNA-derived human interferons  (1990)
Website Eleanor Fish at the University of Toronto

Eleanor N. Fish CM is a Canadian immunologist who is a Professor of Immunology at the University of Toronto. Her research considers how cytokines and chemokines interact with receptors in cells and tissue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fish tested interferon-alpha as a treatment for coronavirus disease.

Contents

Early life and education

Fish was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in London. [1] As a child she was interested in music and fine art. [1] She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Manchester. [2] She moved to King's College London for her graduate studies, where she worked toward a master's degree in virology. For her doctoral research she joined the University of Toronto, where she studied cell biology. Her research established structure–function relationships in human interferons derived from recombinant DNA. [3] She has studied art at the OCAD University. [1]

Research and career

Fish is involved with investigations into cytokines and the development of broad spectrum antiviral drugs. [4] [5] In an effort to understand rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, Fish has investigated the immune responses that underpin autoimmunity. [6]

In 2003 Fish led investigations antivirals that could into the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Toronto. [4] She investigated the use of interferon-alpha (IFN-α) corticosteroids to treat patients with SARS, and showed in a clinical trial that IFN-α treatment was associated with a reduction in impaired oxygen saturation, lung abnormalities and lower levels of creatine kinase. [7] IFN-α is a naturally occurring protein that is produced in response to viral infection, and has been shown to have therapeutic properties in the treatment of viral infections. [7] They do this by triggering an immune response as well as inhibiting the virus from multiplying. [8] The success of these clinical trials prompted her group to examine the use of IFN-α as a treatment for emerging infectious diseases, including Influenza A virus subtype H1N1. [6] [9]

Fish has investigated the use of IFN-α as a treatment for ebola virus disease. [6] [10] In 2017 she led a clinical trial where she observed that patients treated with IFN-α had better outcomes than those receiving conventional treatment. [11] [12] After this study, the IFN-α developed by Fish was used to treat patients with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). [8] Fish worked with the World Health Organization to establish the effectiveness of ebola vaccines and therapeutic interventions. [4]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fish provided regular expert commentary to the media and public. [13] She called for widespread testing and contact tracing to better understand the spread of the disease. [14] With regards to the observation that men are more likely to die of coronavirus disease than women, Fish said that women generally have a more robust immune system, as well as better hygiene. [15] Early results from China indicated that interferon treatment, similar to the approach that Fish had used for SARS and Ebola virus disease patients, was effective against coronavirus disease. Fish proposed that "those who are severely ill with this coronavirus should be receiving a daily dose of interferon". [8] In April 2020 Fish investigated interferons as a treatment for coronavirus disease, and participated as an advisor to the COVID-19 Therapeutics Task Force convened by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. [16]

Awards and honours

Academic service

Fish is the Executive Director of Beyond Science Initiative, a nonprofit that supports science students from marginalised groups. [23] She spends one month of each year teaching at Moi University, a medical school in Kenya. [24] At Moi Fish runs programmes in immunology, with a focus on women and maternal health. [24] She serves on the executive committee of the Canadian Organisation for Gender and Sex Research. [25]

Selected publications

Fish serves on the editorial board of the BioMed Central Signals. [29]

Personal life

Fish was married in 1975, when she moved to Toronto. [1] She is an artist, painting figure paintings and landscapes using watercolour inks. [30]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interferon</span> Signaling proteins released by host cells in response to the presence of pathogens

Interferons are a group of signaling proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of several viruses. In a typical scenario, a virus-infected cell will release interferons causing nearby cells to heighten their anti-viral defenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interleukin 12</span> Interleukin

Interleukin 12 (IL-12) is an interleukin that is naturally produced by dendritic cells, macrophages, neutrophils, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interferon gamma</span> InterPro Family

Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) is a dimerized soluble cytokine that is the only member of the type II class of interferons. The existence of this interferon, which early in its history was known as immune interferon, was described by E. F. Wheelock as a product of human leukocytes stimulated with phytohemagglutinin, and by others as a product of antigen-stimulated lymphocytes. It was also shown to be produced in human lymphocytes. or tuberculin-sensitized mouse peritoneal lymphocytes challenged with Mantoux test (PPD); the resulting supernatants were shown to inhibit growth of vesicular stomatitis virus. Those reports also contained the basic observation underlying the now widely employed IFN-γ release assay used to test for tuberculosis. In humans, the IFN-γ protein is encoded by the IFNG gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interleukin 29</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Interleukin-29 (IL-29) is a cytokine and it belongs to type III interferons group, also termed interferons λ (IFN-λ). IL-29 plays an important role in the immune response against pathogenes and especially against viruses by mechanisms similar to type I interferons, but targeting primarily cells of epithelial origin and hepatocytes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CXCL9</span> Mammalian protein found in Homo sapiens

Chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL9) is a small cytokine belonging to the CXC chemokine family that is also known as monokine induced by gamma interferon (MIG). The CXCL9 is one of the chemokine which plays role to induce chemotaxis, promote differentiation and multiplication of leukocytes, and cause tissue extravasation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interferon type I</span> Cytokine

The type-I interferons (IFN) are cytokines which play essential roles in inflammation, immunoregulation, tumor cells recognition, and T-cell responses. In the human genome, a cluster of thirteen functional IFN genes is located at the 9p21.3 cytoband over approximately 400 kb including coding genes for IFNα, IFNω (IFNW1), IFNɛ (IFNE), IFNк (IFNK) and IFNβ (IFNB1), plus 11 IFN pseudogenes.

The type III interferon group is a group of anti-viral cytokines, that consists of four IFN-λ (lambda) molecules called IFN-λ1, IFN-λ2, IFN-λ3, and IFN-λ4. They were discovered in 2003. Their function is similar to that of type I interferons, but is less intense and serves mostly as a first-line defense against viruses in the epithelium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interferon-alpha/beta receptor</span> Heterodimeric receptor

The interferon-α/β receptor (IFNAR) is a virtually ubiquitous membrane receptor which binds endogenous type I interferon (IFN) cytokines. Endogenous human type I IFNs include many subtypes, such as interferons-α, -β, -ε, -κ, -ω, and -ζ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyrosine kinase 2</span> Enzyme and coding gene in humans

Non-receptor tyrosine-protein kinase TYK2 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the TYK2 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interferon alpha-1</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Interferon alpha-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IFNA1 gene.

Interferon alfa-2b is an antiviral or antineoplastic drug. It is a recombinant form of the protein Interferon alpha-2 that was originally sequenced and produced recombinantly in E. coli in the laboratory of Charles Weissmann at the University of Zurich, in 1980. It was developed at Biogen, and ultimately marketed by Schering-Plough under the trade name Intron-A. It was also produced in 1986 in recombinant human form, in the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Havana, Cuba, under the name Heberon Alfa R.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IFNA2</span> Mammalian protein found in Homo sapiens

Interferon alpha-2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IFNA2 gene.

Interferon alfa (INN) or HuIFN-alpha-Le, trade name Multiferon, is a pharmaceutical drug composed of natural interferon alpha (IFN-α), obtained from the leukocyte fraction of human blood following induction with Sendai virus. Interferon alfa contains several naturally occurring IFN-α subtypes and is purified by affinity chromatography. Although the pharmaceutical product is often simply called "interferon alpha" or "IFN-α" like its endogenous counterpart, the product's International nonproprietary name (INN) is interferon alfa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Pestka</span>

Sidney Pestka was an American biochemist and geneticist. A recipient of the National Medal of Technology, he is sometimes referred to as the "father of interferon" for his groundbreaking work developing the interferons as treatments for major diseases such as hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. Pestka was part of the team working on research involving the genetic code, protein synthesis and ribosome function that led to the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine received by Marshall Warren Nirenberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akiko Iwasaki</span> Immunobiologist

Akiko Iwasaki is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University. She is also a principal investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research interests include innate immunity, autophagy, inflammasomes, sexually transmitted infections, herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, respiratory virus infections, influenza infection, T cell immunity, commensal bacteria, COVID-19 and Long COVID.

Ebola viral protein 24 (eVP24) is considered a multifunctional secondary matrix protein present in viral particles. The broad roles eVP24 performs involve the formation of fully functional and infectious viral particles, promotion of filamentous nucleocapsid formation, mediation of host responses to infection, and suppression of the host innate immune system. It has been noted that eVP24 function can overlap with that of two other viral proteins; eVP40 matrix protein which functions in virus budding, and eVP35 which is also associated with immune suppression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti</span> Indian immunologist

Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti is an immunologist and is the Rose Marie Thomas Endowed Chair, Vice Chair of the Department of Immunology, and Member at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. She is also Director of the Center of Excellence in Innate Immunity and Inflammation at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Her research interests include investigating fundamental mechanisms of innate immunity, including inflammasomes and inflammatory cell death, PANoptosis, in infectious and inflammatory disease and cancer.

Sara R. Cherry is an American microbiologist who is John W. Eckman Professor of Medical Science and Professor of Microbiology in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research involves genetic and mechanistic studies of virus–host interactions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cherry looked to identify novel therapeutic strategies.

Karen Louise Mossman is a Canadian virologist who is a professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University. Mossman looks to understand how viruses get around the defence mechanisms of cells. She was part of a team of Canadian researchers who first isolated SARS-CoV-2.

PANoptosis is an inflammatory cell death pathway. Consideration of the totality of biological effects from cell death in multiple studies led to the conceptualization of PANoptosis, a unique innate immune inflammatory cell death pathway regulated by multifaceted PANoptosome complexes that have been visualized in single cells to integrate components from other cell death pathways. PANoptosis is implicated in driving innate immune responses and inflammation in disease and cannot be individually accounted for by pyroptosis, apoptosis, or necroptosis alone. PANoptosome formation and PANoptosis occur during pathogenic infections, including bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, as well as during inflammatory diseases and can be beneficial in the context of cancer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "About". Eleanor Fish. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  2. ↑ "Prof. Eleanor Fish". HSTalks. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  3. ↑ Fish, Eleanor N (1990). Structure/function studies on recombinant DNA-derived human interferons (Thesis). Ottawa: National Library of Canada. OCLC   23651798.
  4. 1 2 3 "Eleanor Fish Interview | Immunopaedia". 30 April 2018. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  5. ↑ "Eleanor N Fish, PhD". UHN Research. Archived from the original on 2016-08-27. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Fish Eleanor N. | The AAS". www.aasciences.africa. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  7. 1 2 Mona Loutfy; Blatt, Lawrence M.; Siminovitch, Katharine A.; Ward, Sarah; Wolff, Bryan; Lho, Hyoung; Pham, Dieu H.; Deif, Hassan; LaMere, Elizabeth A.; Chang, Margaret; Kain, Kevin C. (2003-12-24). "Interferon alfacon-1 plus corticosteroids in severe acute respiratory syndrome: a preliminary study". JAMA. 290 (24): 3222–3228. doi: 10.1001/jama.290.24.3222 . ISSN   1538-3598. PMID   14693875.
  8. 1 2 3 "Is there another weapon in the coronavirus fight? A Toronto researcher wants to 'shout it from the rooftops'". thestar.com. 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  9. ↑ "Funding for antiviral research key in flu fight doctor says" . Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  10. ↑ "Eleanor N. Fish". Scientus Pharma. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  11. ↑ "Interferon drug shows promise in treating Ebola". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  12. ↑ News; Canada (2017-03-20). "Canadian scientists discover hepatitis drug slashes Ebola death rate in possible breakthrough | National Post". National Post. Retrieved 2020-04-29.{{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  13. ↑ "Analyzing the 2019 Novel Coronavirus". The Medium. 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  14. ↑ "WHO issues guidelines for lifting coronavirus restrictions. Is Canada ready? - CityNews Toronto". toronto.citynews.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  15. ↑ "Why do some people exposed to coronavirus get sick and others don't?". Coronavirus. 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  16. ↑ Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (2022-03-10). "COVID-19 Therapeutics Task Force". Government of Canada . Archived from the original on 2023-04-27. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  17. ↑ "CORRECTING and REPLACING 'Seymour and Vivian Milstein Award for Excellence in Interferon and Cytokine Research' to be Awarded Jointly to Eleanor Fish, Ph.D., and Sergei Kotenko, Ph.D., at the Annual Meeting of the ISICR". www.businesswire.com. 2010-09-14. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  18. ↑ "Eleanor Fish, Ph.D." The Milstein Awards. 2010-06-21. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  19. 1 2 "Award Recipients". Canadian Society For Immunology. Archived from the original on 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  20. ↑ Government of Canada, Industry Canada (2012-11-29). "Canada Research Chairs". www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  21. ↑ "2017 Leadership in Advocacy Award". Research Canada. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  22. ↑ "Governor General announces 135 new appointments to the Order of Canada". Governor General of Canada. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  23. ↑ Markster. "AboutUs". Beyond Sciences. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  24. 1 2 "Immunology Goes to Africa – Eleanor Fish's Odyssey | IMMpress Magazine". www.immpressmagazine.com. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  25. ↑ "Canadian Organization for Gender & Sex Research (COGS)". www.cogsresearch.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  26. ↑ Kong, Young-Yun; Feige, Ulrich; Sarosi, Iidiko; Bolon, Brad; Tafuri, Anna; Morony, Sean; Capparelli, Casey; Li, Ji; Elliott, Robin; McCabe, Susan; Wong, Thomas (1999-12-16). "Activated T cells regulate bone loss and joint destruction in adjuvant arthritis through osteoprotegerin ligand". Nature. 402 (6759): 304–309. Bibcode:1999Natur.402..304K. doi:10.1038/46303. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   10580503. S2CID   4411606.
  27. ↑ Fish, Eleanor N. (2008). "The X-files in immunity: sex-based differences predispose immune responses". Nature Reviews Immunology. 8 (9): 737–744. doi:10.1038/nri2394. ISSN   1474-1733. PMC   7097214 . PMID   18728636.
  28. ↑ Platanias, L (1999). "Signaling pathways activated by interferons". Experimental Hematology. 27 (11): 1583–1592. doi: 10.1016/s0301-472x(99)00109-5 . ISSN   0301-472X. PMID   10560905.
  29. ↑ "Signals". Signals. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  30. ↑ "Portfolio". Eleanor Fish. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
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