Manser Research

Alabyev, B., Z. S. M. Rahman and T. Manser “Quantitatively Reduced Participation of Anti-nuclear Antigen B Cells that Down Regulate BCR During Primary Development in the Germinal Center/memory B Cell Response to Foreign Antigen” (2007) J. Immunol. 178: 5623-5634.

This manuscript provided the first evidence for the action of a peripheral B cell tolerance “checkpoint” operating during the germinal center reaction.  Perturbation of this checkpoint may promote the development of systemic autoimmune diseases.

Coffey, F., B. Alabyev and T. Manser “Initial clonal expansion of germinal center B cells takes place at the perimeter of follicles” (2009) Immunity 30: 599-609.

This paper showed for the first time that B cells undergoing a T cell dependent response proliferate and begin differentiation to germinal center B cells in a novel lymphoid microenvironment.  This defined a new stage of antigen-driven B cell development.

Vuyyuru, R., H. Liu, T. Manser and K. Alugupalli “The characteristics of Borrelia hermsii infection in human hematopoietic stem cell-engrafted mice mirror those of human relapsing fever” (2011) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108: 20707-20712.

This paper was the first to demonstrate that hematopoietically humanized mice could mount protective immune responses against bacterial infections.  Thus, these mice can be used as models for the development of anti-bacterial vaccines and therapeutics.

Walker, J., T. Manser and K. Alugupalli, “Humoral immunity in mice transplanted with hematopoietic stem cells derived from human umbilical cord blood recapitulates that of human infants” (2017) Stem Cells and Development, in press.

This paper highlighted the limitations of humanized mouse technology at present by showing that these mice do not respond to purified bacterial capsular polysaccharides.  This is also the case for human infants, suggesting that the immune systems of humanized mice recapitulate that of young children.