Kosiewicz Lab

About

My laboratory studies the mechanisms underpinning immunoregulation and self-tolerance in health and disease. Our focus is on T cells, antigen presenting cells and macrophages and the roles these cells play in pathogenesis, immunoregulation and tolerance in the context of autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We are also interested in the impact that sex (i.e., since females are much more likely to develop most types of autoimmune diseases), as well as other environmental factors, such as the gut microbiota, have on these processes. We currently use the (NZBxNZW)F1 mouse strain that spontaneously develops SLE for our studies.  We have also studied other autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, inflammatory bowel diseases, autoimmune gastritis, ocular immunity/tolerance, and autoimmune ovarian dysgenesis. We have a long-standing interest in the biology of the CD4 regulatory cells (CD4+CD25+Foxp3+), that are critical for the maintenance of peripheral tolerance and control of potentially autoreactive T and other immune cells, and the dendritic cells in the gut that induce them. We are particularly interested in dissecting the role that the gut microbiota plays in immunoregulation, and the development of and/or protection from autoimmune disease. 

Key Research Areas

• Immunoregulation and tolerance  

• Autoimmunity 

• Influence of the gut microbiota on the immune responses 

• Influence of sex on immune response 

Current Projects

• Sex-based differences in immunoregulation, autoimmunity and the gut microbiota.  

Active Research Grant Awards

• Department of Defense

Team 

• Jing Ma, graduate student (Microbiology & immunology-School of Medicine) 

Recent Publications

• J. N. Manirarora, M.M. Kosiewicz*, P. Alard*. 2020.  Feeding lactobacilli impact lupus progression in (NZBxNZW)F1 lupus prone mice by enhancing immunoregulation. (*co-last authors)  Autoimmunity 53(6):323-332.
• F. Yuan*, J. Harder*, J. Ma, X. Yin, X. Zhang and M.M. Kosiewicz. 2020. Using multiple analytical platforms to investigate the androgen depletion effects on fecal metabolites in a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus. J Proteome Res.  Feb 7;19(2):667-676. 10.1021/acs.jproteome.9b00558 (*co-first authors) 
• J. W. Harder, J. Ma, P. Alard, X. Zhang, N. K. Egilmez, K. J Sokoloski and M. M. Kosiewicz. 2023. Male microbiota-associated metabolite restores macrophage efferocytosis in female lupus- prone mice via activation of PPARg/LXR signaling pathways.  Journal of Leukocyte Biology 113(1):41-57.
• Williams EP, Nandi A, Nam V, Allen LJS, Trindade AA, Kosiewicz MM, Jonsson CB. 2023. Modeling the Immune Response for Pathogenic and Nonpathogenic Orthohantavirus Infections in Human Lung. Microvasculature Endothelial Cells. Aug 24;15(9):1806 

A full list of Kosiewicz publications may be found here.