Mark Mamula, Ph.D.

Professor of Medicine
Rheumatology

Research Activities

The immune system maintains a delicate balance in its ability to recognize and eliminate foreign pathogens versus its ability to be tolerant of self tissues. Dr. Mamula has had a long standing interest in investigating the early events involved with the induction of autoimmunity. It is the goal of Dr. Mamula's laboratory to understand the mechanisms that may shift this balance toward the initiation of autoimmune responses. In particular, his efforts have centered on the molecular interactions of autoimmune B and T lymphocyte responses to intracellular autoantigens in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). His laboratory is also interested in determining the forms of autoantigens capable of breaking immunologic tolerance, the processing of these autoantigens, and understanding the role of autoreactive T cells in autoimmune diseases such as lupus and diabetes. More recently, Dr. Mamula has also been applying some his studies towards developing “autoimmune” responses against tumor tissues, in particular, models of melanoma and breast cancer. These latter studies have evolved into novel approaches for the design of therapeutic tumor vaccines.

Selected Publications

Shlomchik, M.S., J.C. Craft, and M.J. Mamula. 2001. From T to B and back again: Positive feedback in systemic autoimmune disease. Nature Rev. Immunol. 1:147-154.

Doyle, H.A. and M.J. Mamula. 2001. Post translational protein modifications in antigen recognition and autoimmunity. Trends in Immunol. 22:443-449.

Doyle, H.A., R.J. Gee, and M.J. Mamula. 2003. A failure to repair self proteins leads to T cell hyperproliferation and autoantibody production. J. Immunol. 171:2840-2847.

Doyle, H.A. and M.J. Mamula. 2005. Posttranslational modifications of self antigens. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1050:1-9.

Yan, J., M. Wolff, J. Unternaehrer, I. Mellman, and M.J. Mamula. 2005. Antigen directed to CD19 on B cells efficiently activates T cells. Int’l Immunol., 17:869-877.

Yang, M-L., H.A. Doyle, R.J. Gee, J.D. Lowenson, S.A. Clarke, B.R. Lawson, D.W. Aswad, and M.J. Mamula. 2006. Intracellular protein modification associated with altered T cell functions in autoimmunity. J. Immunol., 177:4541-4549.

Yan J., B.P. Harvey, R.J. Gee, M.J. Shlomchik, and M.J. Mamula. 2006. B cells drive early T cell autoimmunity in vivo prior to dendritic cell-mediated autoantigen presentation. J. Immunol. 177:4482-4487.

Doyle, H.A., J. Zhou, M.J. Wolff, R.M. Roman, R.J. Gee, R.A. Koski, and M.J. Mamula. 2006. Isoaspartyl posttranslational modification triggers anti-tumor T and B lymphocyte immunity. J. Biol. Chem. 281:32676-32683.

Doyle, H.A., R.J. Gee, and M.J. Mamula. 2007. Altered immunogenicity of isoaspartate-containing proteins. Autoimmunity 40:131-137.

Harvey, B.P., R.J. Gee, A.M. Haberman, M.J. Shlomchik, and M.J. Mamula. 2007. Antigen presentation and transfer between B cells and macrophages. Eur. J. Immunol. 37:1739-1751.

Lab Members

Research Associate
Renelle Gee	(203) 737-6052
Postdoctoral Associates/Fellows
Mei-Ling Yang, Ph.D.	(203) 737-6052
Bohdan Harvey, Ph.D.	(203) 737-6052
Associate Research Scientists
Hester Doyle, Ph.D.	(203) 737-6052

Contact

Campus Address
300 Cedar Street
TAC S-515

Mailing Address
Yale University School of Medicine
P.O. Box 208031
New Haven, CT 06520-8031

E-mail
mark.mamula@yale.edu

Office Phone
(203) 737-2840

Fax
(203) 785-7053