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Stephan Schwander,
MD |
| Title:
Assistant Professor |
| Affiliation:
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School |
| Department:
Medicine |
| Research Interests:
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Stephan Schwander MD, PhD,
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Center for
Emerging Pathogens at UMDNJ-NJMS, carries
out research on human immunity to
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) with a
primary focus on lung immune responses
during active tuberculosis (TB) and in M.tb-exposed
contacts of TB patients. Ex vivo assessments
of antimycobacterial alveolar macrophage and
T cell functions answer pertinent research
questions about pathogenesis of human TB
disease and protective immunity against M.tb.
Recent focus of the lab has been on the in
vitro effects of respirable environmental
pollutants on antimycobacterial blood cell
immunity.
Dr. Schwander's lab at UMDNJ-NJMS is
equipped for sterile cell cultures,
isolation and analysis of primary blood and
lung cell subpopulations, aerobic and
anaerobic bacterial culture, in vitro
infection with avirulent and virulent M.tb,
M.tb killing assays, fluorescence activated
cell sorting, quantitative real time PCR and
cytokine detection by ELISA and ELISPOT
assays.
Effects of Diesel Exhaust Particles (DEP) on
Antimycobacterial Immunity.
Drs. Schwander, Song (both at UMDNJ-NJMS),
Kipen and Zhang (both at EOHSI) have begun
to assess the immunomodulatory effects of
DEP on M.tb-specific immune responses with a
pilot grant support from NIEHS P30 Center at
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
The novel studies provide preliminary
evidence that DEP and M.tb are taken up by
human phagocytic blood cells. In
simultaneous DEP and M.tb exposure
experiments, DEP decreases the production of
M.tb-induced IFN-gamma, IL-6, and TNF-alpha,
while it increases the production of IL-10.
DEP pre-exposure (in in vitro to cell
cultures and in vivo after acute inhalative
exposure in human volunteers) decreases M.tb-induced
IL-6 and IL-10 production perhaps due to the
induction of a cellular hyporesponsiveness/tolerance
to subsequent M.tb stimulation. DEP (both
after in vitro addition to cell cultures and
following inhalative DEP exposure) appear to
decrease M.tb growth control by blood cells.
DEP (particulate matter) effects may
contribute to the serious public health
problem posed worldwide by M.tb infection
and tuberculosis through immunotoxicological
effects that reduce protective
antimycobacterial immunity. |
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