Karen Agaronyan
Associate Research ScientistCards
About
Research
Publications
2026
C67-06 Aging and Sex Differentially Shape Myeloid Responses and Viral Clearance During Influenza Infection
Kim J, Qiu A, Bain W, Abu Hussein N, Agaronyan K, Suber T, Rizzo A, Evankovich J, Dela Cruz C, Zhao A, Yuan Y, Manning E, Chen L, Sharma L. C67-06 Aging and Sex Differentially Shape Myeloid Responses and Viral Clearance During Influenza Infection. American Journal Of Respiratory And Critical Care Medicine 2026, 212: aamag162.4460. DOI: 10.1093/ajrccm/aamag162.4460.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchInfluenza infectionViral clearanceSevere influenzaInnate immune response to influenzaRisk of severe influenzaSusceptibility to severe influenzaImmune response to influenzaDefective viral clearanceResponse to influenzaViral transcriptionInflammatory gene signatureFemale C57BL/6 micePersistent pulmonary inflammationWeight lossSex-dependent alterationsAged neutrophilsBody weight lossNS1 protein expressionHigh-risk populationProinflammatory gene expressionCell activity patternsHuman challenge studiesViral RNA quantificationMyeloid populationsPulmonary inflammation
2025
Damage sensing through TLR9 regulates inflammatory and antiviral responses during influenza infection
Kim J, Yuan Y, Agaronyan K, Zhao A, Wang V, Gau D, Toosi N, Gupta G, Essayas H, Kaminski A, McGovern J, Yu S, Woo S, Lee C, Gandhi S, Saber T, Saleh T, Hu B, Sun Y, Ishikawa G, Bain W, Evankovich J, Chen L, Yun H, Herzog E, Dela Cruz C, Ryu C, Sharma L. Damage sensing through TLR9 regulates inflammatory and antiviral responses during influenza infection. Mucosal Immunology 2025, 18: 537-548. PMID: 39884393, PMCID: PMC12205908, DOI: 10.1016/j.mucimm.2025.01.008.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchToll-like receptor 9Anti-influenza immunityToll-like receptor 9 activationImpaired viral clearanceViral clearanceMyeloid cellsTissue injuryInflammatory responseInfluenza infectionPersistent inflammationLung injuryTissue damageToll-like receptor 9 deficiencyReceptor 9Toll-like receptor 9 signalingToll-like receptor 9 ligandInfection of immune cellsInfluenza-infected individualsPersistent lung injuryTLR9-/- miceInfected myeloid cellsInflammatory lung injurySensing tissue damageUnmethylated CpG DNA sequencesMitochondrial DNA
2023
Modes of type 2 immune response initiation
Kopp E, Agaronyan K, Licona-Limón I, Nish S, Medzhitov R. Modes of type 2 immune response initiation. Immunity 2023, 56: 687-694. PMID: 37044059, DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.03.015.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus Statements
2019
Author Correction: Mitochondrial replacement in human oocytes carrying pathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations
Kang E, Wu J, Gutierrez N, Koski A, Tippner-Hedges R, Agaronyan K, Platero-Luengo A, Martinez-Redondo P, Ma H, Lee Y, Hayama T, Van Dyken C, Wang X, Luo S, Ahmed R, Li Y, Ji D, Kayali R, Cinnioglu C, Olson S, Jensen J, Battaglia D, Lee D, Wu D, Huang T, Wolf D, Temiakov D, Belmonte J, Amato P, Mitalipov S. Author Correction: Mitochondrial replacement in human oocytes carrying pathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations. Nature 2019, 567: e5-e9. PMID: 30814738, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-0876-1.Commentaries, Editorials and Letters
2017
Mechanism of Transcription Anti-termination in Human Mitochondria
Hillen H, Parshin A, Agaronyan K, Morozov Y, Graber J, Chernev A, Schwinghammer K, Urlaub H, Anikin M, Cramer P, Temiakov D. Mechanism of Transcription Anti-termination in Human Mitochondria. Cell 2017, 171: 1082-1093.e13. PMID: 29033127, PMCID: PMC5798601, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.09.035.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsReplication of mtDNAElongation complexAnti-terminationHuman mitochondriaRNA G-quadruplex structuresAnti-termination complexTranscription anti-terminatorTranscription termination eventsG-quadruplex regionsTarget specificityRNA exitRNA primersReplication originsTEFMSliding clampReplication primerMobile structural elementsG-quadruplex structuresMtRNAPTranscriptionMtDNARNANucleic acid componentsPrimersMitochondria
2016
Mitochondrial replacement in human oocytes carrying pathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations
Kang E, Wu J, Gutierrez N, Koski A, Tippner-Hedges R, Agaronyan K, Platero-Luengo A, Martinez-Redondo P, Ma H, Lee Y, Hayama T, Van Dyken C, Wang X, Luo S, Ahmed R, Li Y, Ji D, Kayali R, Cinnioglu C, Olson S, Jensen J, Battaglia D, Lee D, Wu D, Huang T, Wolf D, Temiakov D, Belmonte J, Amato P, Mitalipov S. Mitochondrial replacement in human oocytes carrying pathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations. Nature 2016, 540: 270-275. PMID: 27919073, DOI: 10.1038/nature20592.Commentaries, Editorials and LettersConceptsPathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutationsMitochondrial DNA haplotypesMitochondrial DNA replacementMitochondrial DNA mutationsDonor mitochondrial DNADNA haplotypesD-loopMitochondrial DNADNA replacementDNA mutationsMitochondrial replacementEmbryonic stem cellsHuman oocytesHaplotypesStem cellsDNAMutationsPolymorphismReplicationCells
2015
A model for transcription initiation in human mitochondria
Morozov Y, Parshin A, Agaronyan K, Cheung A, Anikin M, Cramer P, Temiakov D. A model for transcription initiation in human mitochondria. Nucleic Acids Research 2015, 43: 3726-3735. PMID: 25800739, PMCID: PMC4402542, DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkv235.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsInitiation complexEvolution of gene expressionHuman mitochondrial RNA polymeraseMechanisms of promoter bindingTranscription of mtDNAMitochondrial RNA polymeraseDomains of lifeMaintenance of redox potentialPromoter DNARNA polymeraseTFB2MTranscription initiationHuman mitochondriaTranscriptional regulationPromoter bindingGene expressionBinding sitesMolecular levelTranscriptionRegulationMtDNARNAPTFB2Early stagesMitochondriaReplication-transcription switch in human mitochondria
Agaronyan K, Morozov Y, Anikin M, Temiakov D. Replication-transcription switch in human mitochondria. Science 2015, 347: 548-551. PMID: 25635099, PMCID: PMC4677687, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa0986.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsMitochondrial RNA polymeraseMitochondrial DNA copy numberDNA copy numberEarly stages of embryogenesisStages of embryogenesisMitochondrial genomeNascent transcriptsRNA polymeraseMitochondrial DNAHuman mitochondriaTranscription machineryAdenosine triphosphate productionMetabolically active cellsReplication primerCoordinated replicationTranscription processCopy numberTranscription rateTranscriptionMitochondriaMolecular switchTriphosphate productionTEFMReplicationActive cells
2014
A novel intermediate in transcription initiation by human mitochondrial RNA polymerase
Morozov Y, Agaronyan K, Cheung A, Anikin M, Cramer P, Temiakov D. A novel intermediate in transcription initiation by human mitochondrial RNA polymerase. Nucleic Acids Research 2014, 42: 3884-3893. PMID: 24393772, PMCID: PMC3973326, DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkt1356.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsPre-initiation complexN-terminal domainPromoter DNARNA polymeraseTFB2MPhage-like RNA polymeraseHuman mitochondrial RNA polymeraseOpen initiation complexMitochondrial RNA polymeraseBiophysical studiesMitochondrial transcription machineryProtein-protein cross-linkingMitochondrial genomeNucleoid proteinsHigher eukaryotesMitochondrial transcriptsTranscription initiationTranscription machineryHuman TFAMMtRNAPTranscriptional regulationInitiation complexPromoter meltingTranscription factorsPre-initiation
2013
Structure of human mitochondrial RNA polymerase elongation complex
Schwinghammer K, Cheung A, Morozov Y, Agaronyan K, Temiakov D, Cramer P. Structure of human mitochondrial RNA polymerase elongation complex. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 2013, 20: 1298-1303. PMID: 24096365, PMCID: PMC4321815, DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2683.Peer-Reviewed Original Research