Filip Swirski | |
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Nationality | Polish, Canadian, US |
Citizenship | United States |
Alma mater | McMaster University, Harvard Medical School |
Known for | Linking atherosclerosis with blood monocytosis, identifying how sleep interruption accelerates atherosclerosis and neutral drift, demonstrating IL-3 role in protecting against Alzheimer's disease |
Awards | Outstanding Investigator Award, NHLBI; Established Investigator Award, American Heart Association |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Cardiology, immunology |
Institutions | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital |
Website | Swirski Lab |
Filip Swirski is a Polish-Canadian-American scientist and educator serving as the Arthur and Janet C. Ross Professor of Medicine, Cardiology and Professor of Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and is the Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute. He is also a member of the Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII), the Marc and Jennifer Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute (PrIISM), and The Friedman Brain Institutes (FBI) at Mount Sinai. His research partly focuses on innate and inflammatory mechanisms in cardiovascular disease. He is known for his work in cardioimmunology and notably for linking atherosclerosis with blood monocytosis. [1] [2] [3]
Swirski earned his Bachelor of Arts and Science specializing in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in immunology at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. He received an honorary MS from Harvard Medical School in 2020 for accomplishing a full professorship. He was professor at the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and at Harvard Medical School. [4] [5]
Swirski focuses on understanding how leukocytes shape and are shaped by inflammation. His research uses in vivo models of acute and chronic inflammation relevant to cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, infectious, and metabolic diseases. [5] His writings reflect translational and fundamental cardiovascular and neurodegenerative science research, including cell development, mind-marrow communication, and function. [6] [7]
Partial list:
As of 2024, Swirski is credited with 38,923 citations and has an h-index of 95. [36] His most cited contributions to date are on myocardial infarction, ventricular remodeling, inflammation, stem cell niche, hematopoiesis and hematopoietic stem cells. [37] Between 2018 and 2019, articles reportedly focused mostly on inflammation (43.72%), bone marrow (17.21%) and immune system (17.21%). [38]
Five most-cited peer-reviewed publications as of 2024 include: [36]
Haematopoiesis is the formation of blood cellular components. All cellular blood components are derived from haematopoietic stem cells. In a healthy adult human, roughly ten billion to a hundred billion new blood cells are produced per day, in order to maintain steady state levels in the peripheral circulation.
The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes from Ancient Greek σπλήν (splḗn).
Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis, characterized by development of abnormalities called lesions in walls of arteries. This is a chronic inflammatory disease involving many different cell types, and driven by elevated levels of cholesterol in the blood. These lesions may lead to narrowing of the arterial walls due to buildup of atheromatous plaques. At onset there are usually no symptoms, but if they develop, symptoms generally begin around middle age. In severe cases, it can result in coronary artery disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, or kidney disorders, depending on which body part(s) the affected arteries are located in the body.
Macrophages are a type of white blood cell of the innate immune system that engulf and digest pathogens, such as cancer cells, microbes, cellular debris, and foreign substances, which do not have proteins that are specific to healthy body cells on their surface. This process is called phagocytosis, which acts to defend the host against infection and injury.
Monocytosis is an increase in the number of monocytes circulating in the blood. Monocytes are white blood cells that give rise to macrophages and dendritic cells in the immune system.
Monocytes are a type of leukocyte or white blood cell. They are the largest type of leukocyte in blood and can differentiate into macrophages and monocyte-derived dendritic cells. As a part of the vertebrate innate immune system monocytes also influence adaptive immune responses and exert tissue repair functions. There are at least three subclasses of monocytes in human blood based on their phenotypic receptors.
In vascular diseases, endothelial dysfunction is a systemic pathological state of the endothelium. The main cause of endothelial dysfunction is impaired bioavailability of nitric oxide,
The fibrous cap is a layer of fibrous connective tissue, which is thicker and less cellular than the normal intima, found in atherosclerotic plaques. The fibrous cap contains macrophages and smooth muscle cells. The fibrous cap of an atheroma is composed of bundles of muscle cells, macrophages, foam cells, lymphocytes, collagen and elastin.
The cords of Billroth are found in the red pulp of the spleen between the sinusoids, consisting of fibrils and connective tissue cells with a large population of monocytes and macrophages. These cords contain half of the mouse body's monocytes as a reserve so that after tissue injury these monocytes can move in and aid locally sourced monocytes in wound healing.
Foam cells, also called lipid-laden macrophages, are a type of cell that contain cholesterol. These can form a plaque that can lead to atherosclerosis and trigger myocardial infarction and stroke.
The colony stimulating factor 1 (CSF1), also known as macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), is a secreted cytokine which causes hematopoietic stem cells to differentiate into macrophages or other related cell types. Eukaryotic cells also produce M-CSF in order to combat intercellular viral infection. It is one of the three experimentally described colony-stimulating factors. M-CSF binds to the colony stimulating factor 1 receptor. It may also be involved in development of the placenta.
CX3C motif chemokine receptor 1 (CX3CR1), also known as the fractalkine receptor or G-protein coupled receptor 13 (GPR13), is a transmembrane protein of the G protein-coupled receptor 1 (GPCR1) family and the only known member of the CX3C chemokine receptor subfamily.
Epithelioid cells are derivatives of activated macrophages resembling epithelial cells.
Hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2 (HCA2), also known as GPR109A and niacin receptor 1 (NIACR1), is a protein which in humans is encoded (its formation is directed) by the HCAR2 gene and in rodents by the Hcar2 gene. The human HCAR2 gene is located on the long (i.e., "q") arm of chromosome 12 at position 24.31 (notated as 12q24.31). Like the two other hydroxycarboxylic acid receptors, HCA1 and HCA3, HCA2 is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) located on the surface membrane of cells. HCA2 binds and thereby is activated by D-β-hydroxybutyric acid (hereafter termed β-hydroxybutyric acid), butyric acid, and niacin (also known as nicotinic acid). β-Hydroxybutyric and butyric acids are regarded as the endogenous agents that activate HCA2. Under normal conditions, niacin's blood levels are too low to do so: it is given as a drug in high doses in order to reach levels that activate HCA2.
An inflammatory cytokine or proinflammatory cytokine is a type of signaling molecule that is secreted from immune cells like helper T cells (Th) and macrophages, and certain other cell types that promote inflammation. They include interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6, IL-12, and IL-18, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interferon gamma (IFNγ), and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and play an important role in mediating the innate immune response. Inflammatory cytokines are predominantly produced by and involved in the upregulation of inflammatory reactions.
Many human blood cells, such as red blood cells (RBCs), immune cells, and even platelets all originate from the same progenitor cell, the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC). As these cells are short-lived, there needs to be a steady turnover of new blood cells and the maintenance of an HSC pool. This is broadly termed hematopoiesis. This event requires a special environment, termed the hematopoietic stem cell niche, which provides the protection and signals necessary to carry out the differentiation of cells from HSC progenitors. This stem-cell niche relocates from the yolk sac to eventually rest in the bone marrow of mammals. Many pathological states can arise from disturbances in this niche environment, highlighting its importance in maintaining hematopoiesis.
Mikaël Pittet is a Swiss research scientist.
Gwendalyn J. Randolph is an American immunologist, the Emil R. Unanue Distinguished Professor in the Department of Immunology and Pathology at Washington University School of Medicine where she is currently co-director of the Immunology Graduate Program. During her postdoctoral work, Randolph characterized monocyte differentiation to dendritic cells and macrophages and made advances in our understanding of dendritic cell trafficking and the fate of monocytes recruited to sites of inflammation. Her lab has contributed to the Immunological Genome Project by characterizing macrophage gene expression. Her work now focuses on the immunological mechanisms driving atherosclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by exploring lymphatic function and lipoprotein trafficking.
Immune system contribution to regeneration of tissues generally involves specific cellular components, transcription of a wide variety of genes, morphogenesis, epithelia renewal and proliferation of damaged cell types. However, current knowledge reveals more and more studies about immune system influence that cannot be omitted. As the immune system exhibits inhibitory or inflammatory functions during regeneration, the therapies are focused on either stopping these processes or control the immune cells setting in a regenerative way, suggesting that interplay between damaged tissue and immune system response must be well-balanced. Recent studies provide evidence that immune components are required not only after body injury but also in homeostasis or senescent cells replacement.
Apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage (AIM) is a protein produced by macrophages that regulates immune responses and inflammation. It plays a crucial role in key intracellular processes like lipid metabolism and apoptosis.