Hajera was awarded a travel award to present her work at the upcoming 5th Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society!
Hajera was awarded a travel award to present her work at the upcoming 5th Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society!
Technology.org wrote a piece on our SP140 paper in Science Immunology.
Science Daily, one of the internet’s most popular websites for daily science news covered our latest Science Immunology paper.
The Scientist, a magazine for life science professionals wrote a News & Opinion piece on our latest SP140 paper in Science Immunology.
Our SP140 Science Immunology paper was covered by EurekAlert! An online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society.
Harvard Medical School News covered our SP140 paper in Science Immunology.
Check out the write up from MedicalXpress for our recent Science Immunology paper investigating SP140.
Check out the MGH press release for our recent Science Immunology paper.
Epigenetic “readers” that recognize defined posttranslational modifications on histones have become desirable therapeutic targets for cancer and inflammation. SP140 is one such bromodomain- and plant homeodomain (PHD)–containing reader with immune-restricted expression, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within SP140 associate with Crohn’s disease (CD). However, the function of SP140 and the consequences of disease-associated SP140 SNPs have remained unclear. We show that SP140 is critical for transcriptional programs that uphold the macrophage state. SP140 preferentially occupies promoters of silenced, lineage-inappropriate genes bearing the histone modification H3K27me3, such as the HOXA cluster in human macrophages, and ensures their repression. Depletion of SP140 in mouse or human macrophages resulted in severely compromised microbe-induced activation. We reveal that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or B cells from individuals carrying CD-associated SNPs within SP140 have defective SP140 messenger RNA splicing and diminished SP140 protein levels. Moreover, CD patients carrying SP140 SNPs displayed suppressed innate immune gene signatures in a mixed population of PBMCs that stratified them from other CD patients. Hematopoietic-specific knockdown of Sp140 in mice resulted in exacerbated dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)–induced colitis, and low SP140 levels in human CD intestinal biopsies correlated with relatively lower intestinal innate cytokine levels and improved response to anti–tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy. Thus, the epigenetic reader SP140 is a key regulator of macrophage transcriptional programs for cellular state, and a loss of SP140 due to genetic variation contributes to a molecularly defined subset of CD characterized by ineffective innate immunity, normally critical for intestinal homeostasis.
The project “Exploring the Interaction of the Virome with Host Virus Sensors, RIG-I and MDA-5” was selected for a grant award of $100,000