Mark S. Anderson, M.D., Ph.D.
	Genetic Control of Autoimmune Diseases
	Email: manderson@diabetes.ucsf.edu Websites:Anderson lab
Selected Publications | Complete Publications

The main research interest of our laboratory group is to examine the genetic control of autoimmune disease to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms by which immune tolerance is broken. Recently, we generated a mouse model of a human autoimmune disease called APECED, which is classically manifested by an autoimmune attack directed at multiple endocrine organs. This disease is inherited in a monogenic autosomal recessive fashion and the causative gene was identified and is called Aire (for autoimmune regulator). We and others have shown that Aire appears to have the remarkable ability to help drive the expression of self-antigens within the thymus. Thus, the absence of Aire activity in the thymus predisposes to autoimmunity by allowing T cells to escape negative selection against self-antigens. Studies are ongoing to study the development of the specialized cells in the thymus that express Aire.

Selected Publications

DeVoss J, Hou Y, Johannes K, Lu W, Liou GI, Rinn J, Chang H, Caspi R, Fong L, Anderson MS. “Spontaneous autoimmunity prevented by thymic expression of a single self-antigen” Journal of Experimental Medicine 2006 Nov 27, 203: 2727-35.

Jiang W*, Anderson MS*, Bronson R, Mathis D, and Benoist C “Modifier loci condition the autoimmunity induced by aire-deficiency” Journal of Experimental Medicine 2005 Sep 19, 202:805-815. *Co-first author.

Anderson MS, Venanzi E, Chen Z, Berzins S, Benoist C, and Mathis D. "The cellular mechanism of aire control of T cell tolerance" Immunity 2005 Aug; 23:227-239.

Anderson MS, Bluestone JA. 2005. THE NOD MOUSE: A Model of Immune Dysregulation. Annu Rev Immunol 23: 447-85.

Su MA, Anderson MS. Aire: an update. Curr Opin Immunol. 2004 Dec;16(6):746-52.

Information last updated April 2007