Aurbach Medical Research Building
450 Ray C Hunt Drive
Phone: (434) 924-5214
Fax: 9434) 924-9578
E-mail: jel2d@virginia.edu

Research Interests: Role of autoantibodies in autoimmune disorders

 Autoantibodies are the hallmark of many autoimmune disorders. Clinically the identification of these autoantibodies can be helpful in the diagnosis of a variety of disorders; still, little is known about the mechanisms behind the development of these antibodies and the role of these antibodies in the disease process. My research over the last several years has focused on the study of the development and diversification of autoantibodies using both human patients and murine models. Epitope spreading accounts for some of this diversification. Crossreactive antibodies have been identified at the monoclonal level. These antibodies may play a role in intermolecular epitope spreading. The development and maturation of these crossreactive antibodies is being explored. These studies may lead to a better understanding of the inciting events leading to the initiation and perpetuation of the autoimmune response.

Publications

1. Deshmukh, U.S., Lewis, J.E., Gaskin, F., Dhakephalkar, P.K., Kannapell, C.C., Waters, S.T. and Fu, S.M. Ro60 peptides induce autoantibodies to similar epitopes shared among lupus-related autoantigens. J Immunol. 164(12):6655-61. 2000.

2. Deshmukh, U.S., Lewis, J.E., Gaskin, F., Kannapell, C.C., Waters, S.T., Lou, Y.H., Tung, K.S. and Fu, S.M. Immune responses to Ro60 and its peptides in mice. I. The nature of the immunogen and endogenous autoantigen determine the specificities of the induced autoantibodies. J. Exp. Med. 189(3):531-540. 1999.

3. Deshmukh, U.S., Lewis, J.E., Gaskin, F., Chu, M., and Fu, S.M. Generation of autoimmunity through cross-reactivity and determinant spreading. J. Invest. Med. 45:207A. 1997.

4. Deshmukh, U.S., Kannapell, C.J., Lewis, J.E., Waters, S.T., Gaskin, F., Chu, M., Tung, K.S.K., and Fu, S.M. Role of autoreactive T cells in the generation of autoimmune responses against Ro60. University of Virginia Medicine Research, April 1997.

5. Deshmukh, U.S., Kannapell, C.J., Lewis, J.E., Gaskin, F., Lou, Y.H., Waters, S.T., Tung, K.S.K., Fu, S.M. Self-reactive T-cells in the generation of autoimmune response against Ro60. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 99:S385, 1997.

6. Sung, S-s.J., Guo, C.Y., Lewis, J.E., and Fu, S.M. Enhancement of MLR stimulation by human dendritic cels with MAB to CD40 and CD40 ligand. FASEB Journal 9:A820, 1995.

7. Lewis, J.E., Fu, S.M., Haire, R.N., Ohta, Y., and Litman, G.W. TMK, a novel human cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase expressed in T cells and myelomonocytic cells. Clinical Research 42:205A, 1994.

8. Haire, R.N., Ohta, Y., Lewis, J.E., Fu, S.M., Kroisel, P., and Litman, G.W. TXK, a novel human tyrosine kinase expressed in T cells shares sequence identify with Tec family kinases and maps to 4p12. Human Molecular Genetics 3(6):897-901, 1994.

9. Lewis, J.E., Foo, M., Geier, S.S., Kumar, P.A., Nathenson, S.G., and Bluestone, J.A. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte recognition of novel allodeterminants expressed on in vitro selected H-2Kb mutants. Journal of Immunology 141:728-735, 1988.

10. Lewis, J.E., and Birky, C.W. Homoplastic yeast cells contain no selectable "hidden" mitochondrial alleles. Current Genetics 81-84, 1984.

Updates on Recent Publications