Albert C Shaw MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
Research Interests
Mechanisms underlying the functional decline of the immune system with aging
Research Summary
Research in the Shaw laboratory is directed toward understanding the mechanisms underlying the functional decline of the immune system with aging. Ongoing projects include studies on the function of presenilins—proteins implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease—in cells of the immune system. In addition, the laboratory is examining the role of mammalian topoisomerases in the control of DNA repair, genomic stability and age-related alterations in the immune system. Finally, we are engaged in ongoing studies in humans that seek to elucidate age-related changes in the innate immune system (such as the Toll-like receptors), and to correlate such changes with responsiveness to vaccines (which decreases substantially in older adults) and susceptibility to infectious diseases.
Selected Publications
- Panda, A., Qian, F., Mohanty, S., van Duin, D., Newman, F.K., Zhang, L., Chen, S., Towle, V., Belshe, R.B., Fikrig, E., Allore, H.G., Montgomery, R.R., Shaw, A.C. (2010). Age-associated decrease in Toll-like receptor function in primary human dendritic cells predicts influenza vaccine response. J. Immunol. 184: 2518-2527.
- Panda, A., Arjona, A., Sapey, E., Bai, F., Fikrig, E., Montgomery, R.R., Lord, J.M., Shaw, A.C. (2009). Human innate immunosenescence: causes and consequences for immunity in old age. Trends Immunol. 30: 325-333.
- Yagi, T., Giallourakis, C., Mohanty, S., Scheidig, C,. Zheng, H., Shen, J., Xavier, R., Shaw, A.C. (2008). Defective signal transduction in presenilin-deficient B lymphocytes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 105:979-984.
- Mohanty, S., Town, T., Yagi, T., Scheidig, C., Flavell, R.A., Shaw, A.C. (2008). Defective p53 engagement following the induction of DNA damage in cells lacking DNA topoisomerase 3beta. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 105:5063-5068.
- van Duin, D., Shaw, A.C. (2007). Toll-like Receptors in Older Adults. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 55: 1438-1444.
- Kwan, K.Y., Greenwald, R.J., Mohanty, S., Sharpe, A.H., Shaw, A.C., Wang, J.C. (2007). Development of autoimmunity in mice lacking DNA topoisomerase IIIbeta, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 104:9242-9247.
- van Duin, D., Allore, H.G., Mohanty, S., Ginter, S., Newman, F.K., Belshe, R.B., Medzhitov, R., Shaw, A.C. (2007). Pre-vaccine determination of the expression of costimulatory B7 molecules in activated monocytes predicts influenza vaccine responses in young and older adults. J. Infect. Dis. 195:1590-1597.
