Justin P. Edwards

Present Position: Graduate Student, PhD Candidate

Undergraduate: University of Maryland, B.S. (2003), Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics

Research interests: The regulation of macrophage cytokine production

Research Summary:

Macrophages are important mediators of the innate immune response. Upon activation of these cells with Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands, they produce large amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-12.  Previous work in our lab has identified a mechanism by IL-12 production can be reversed.  Coupling TLR activation with Fcg receptor ligation with immune complexes leads to the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.  IL-12 production is terminated. We call cells activated with these two signals Type II activated macrophages (MfII).  My work is focused on the comparison of different macrophage populations, including the classically activated macrophage, the Type II macrophage, and a third population of macrophages called the alternatively activated macrophage. The work of others has shown that alternatively activated macrophages play a role in the manifestation of some diseases as well as in wound healing, and may arise in response to the Th2 associated cytokines IL-4 and/or IL-13. My work has focused of comparing these three cell populations by comparing their ability to serve as antigen presenting cells to T-cells as well as through analysis of their expression of different markers through microarray followed by RT-PCR and flow cytometry. We have identified several potential markers by which the Type II macrophage can be identified besides the production of IL-10. We hope to understand how some of these potential markers are regulated as well as their biological significance.

Flow cytometry analysis of DO11.10 T-cells (OVA specific TCR transgenic) activated by the Classically Activated macrophage (left) or Type II macrophage (right) used as an antigen presenting cell. This figure shows the production of the cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 from T-cells reactivated by plate bound anti-CD3 after previous biasing by these macrophage populations.

Publications:

1. Cao, SJ., Zhang, X., Edwards, J.P., and Mosser, D.M. 2006.  NF-kappaB1 (p50) homodimer differentially regulate pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in macrophages.  J. Biological Chemistry. In Press.

2. Edwards, J.P., Zhang, X., Frauwirth, K., and Mosser, D.M. 2006. Biochemical and Functional Characterization of Three Activated Macrophage Populations. J. Leukocyte Biol. In Press
3. Xia Zhang, Justin P. Edwards, and David M. Mosser. Dynamic and Transient Remodeling of the Macrophage IL-10 Promoter during Transcription. J Immunol. 2006 In Press.