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Britta C Urban
- T cells |
- B cells |
- pathogens |
- basic science
kilifi [dot] kemri-wellcome [dot] org Research
Britta Urban obtained a PhD at the Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany in 1996, investigating complement resistance of Entamoeba histolytica. She joined the David Roberts' laboratory at Oxford University on a Research Fellowship awarded by the German Research Council to study immune responses to Plasmodium falciparum malaria. She demonstrated that P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes modulate dendritic cell phenotype and function in vitro. These results formed the basis of a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship where she investigated the role of dendritic cells in natural malaria infection in close collaboration with the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Collaborative Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. She was awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in 2006 and has now moved with her group to Kilifi to study cellular immune responses to PfEMP1. She is particularly interested to investigate whether the phenotypic properties of a given parasite isolate influence the immune response to that isolate.
Although the entire team is based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Collaborative Programme in Kilifi, Kenya, Britta Urban's home institution is the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (www.liv.ac.uk/lstm). Our research links in with ongoing studies on cytoadhesion of infected red blood cells to endothelial cells (Dr Lucy Ocholla and Prof Alister Craig) at the LSTM.
The Team:
- Dr. Evelyn Gitau, postdoctoral Fellow, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
- Dr. Eunice Nduati, postdoctoral BioMalPar Fellow, Oxford University
- James Tuju, PhD student, Open University
- Eva Kimani, Assistant Research Officer
- Henry Karanje, Assistant Research Officer
- Harry Fanjo, Assistant Research Officer
- Agnes Gwela, Assistant Research Officer
Collaborations
Publications
M., Urban, B.C., Marsh, K., Hill, A.V., Flanagan, K.L. 2008. Correlation of memory T cell responses against TRAP with protection from clinical malaria, and CD4 CD25 high T cells with susceptibility in Kenyans. PLoS ONE 3, e2027.
Clatworthy, M.R., Willcocks, L., Urban, B.C., Langhorne, J., Williams, T.N., Peshu, N., Watkins, N.A., Floto, R.A., Smith, K.G. 2007. Systemic lupus erythematosus-associated defects in the inhibitory receptor FcgammaRIIb reduce susceptibility to malaria. PNAS 104, 7169-7174.
Cordery, D.V., Kishore, U., Kyes, S., Shafi, M.J., Watkins, K.R., Williams, T.N., Marsh, K., Urban, B.C. 2007. Characterization of a Plasmodium falciparum Macrophage-Migration Inhibitory Factor Homologue. Journal of Infectious Diseases 195, 905-912.
Urban, B.C., Cordery, D., Shafi, M.J., Bull, P., Newbold, C.N., Williams, T.N., Marsh, K. 2006. The frequency of BDCA3+ dendritic cells is increased in the peripheral circulation of Kenyan children with severe malaria. Infection & Immunity 74, 6700-6706.
Ndungu, F., Sanni, L., Urban, B.C., Newbold, C.N., Marsh, K., Langhorne, J. 2006. CD4 T cells from malaria-naive individuals respond to the CIDR1-α domain of Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein-1 (PfEMP-1) via an MHC class II-T cell receptor-independent pathway. Journal of Immunology 176, 5504-5512.
Urban, B.C., Mohamed J.S., Cordery, D.V., Mwacharia, A., Lowe, B., Marsh, K., Willams, T.N. 2006. Reduced frequency of peripheral blood dendritic cells in healthy Kenyan children with a+thalassaemia. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 74, 578-584.
Jenkins, N.E., Chakravorty, S.J., Urban, B.C., Kai, O.K., Marsh, K., Craig, A.G. 2006. The effect of Plasmodium falciparum infection on expression of monocyte surface molecules. Transactions of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 100, 1007-1012.
Horrocks, P., Pinches, R.A., Papakrivos, J., Chakravorty, S., Christodoulou, Z., Urban, B.C., Ferguson, D.J.P., Newbold, C.I. 2005. Efficient PfEMP1 export to the surface of Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocytes appears to require the presence of knobs. Journal of Cell Science 118, 2507-2518.
Urban, B.C., Hien, T.T., Day, N.P., Phu, N.H., Roberts, R., Pongponratn, E., Jones, M., Mai, N.T.H., Bethell, D., Turner, G.D.H., David Ferguson, D., Nickolas J. White, N.J., Roberts, D.J. 2005. Fatal Plasmodium falciparum malaria causes specific patterns of splenic architectural disorganisation. Infection and Immunity 73, 1986-1994.
Ho, L.-P., Urban, B.C., Thickett, D.R., Davies, R.J.O., McMichael, A. 2005. Deficiency of a subset of T-cells with immune-regulatory properties in sarcoidosis. The Lancet 365, 1062-1072.
Ho, L.-P., Urban, B.C., Jones, L., Ogg, G.S., McMichael, A.J. 2004. CD4-CD8alphaalpha Subset of CD1d-Restricted NKT Cells Controls T Cell Expansion. Journal of Immunology. 172, 7350-7358.
Leisewitz, A., Rockett, KA., Gumede, B., Jones, M., Urban, B.C., Kwiatkowski, D.P. 2004. Response of the splenic dendritic cell population to malaria infection. Infection and Immunity, 72, 4233 - 4239.
Zlatarova, A., Roumenina, L.T., Tchorbadjieva, M.I., Atanasov, B.P., Waters, P., Urban, B.C., Sim, R.B., Reid, K.B.M., Kishore, U. 2004. Mutational analysis of the recombinant globular regions of human C1q A, B and C chains suggest an essential role for the arginine and histidine residues in the C1q-IgG interaction. Journal of Immunology 172, 4351-4358.
Kojouharova, M.S., Urban, B.C., Reid, K.B.M. 2003. Modular Organization of the Carboxy-Terminal, Globular Head Region of Human C1q A,B and C Chains. Journal of Immunology 171, 812-820.
Kishore, U., Madan, T., Sarma, U., Singh, M., Urban, B.C., Reid, K.B.M. 2002. Protective role of pulmonary surfactant proteins, SP-A and SP-D, against lung allergy and infection caused by Aspergillus fumigatus. Immunobiology 205, 610 - 618.
Urban, B.C. and Roberts, D.J. 2002. Malaria, macrophages, monocytes and myeloid dendritic cells: sticking of infected erythrocytes switches host cells off. Review. Current Opinion in Immunology 14, 458-465.
Burthem, J., Urban, B.C., Pain, A., Roberts, D.J. 2001. The normal form of the human prion protein is strongly expressed in myeloid dendritic cells. Blood 98, 3733-3738.
Urban, B.C., Mwangi, T., Ross, A., Kinyanjui, S., Mosobo, M., Kai, O., Lowe, B., Marsh, K., Roberts, D. 2001. Peripheral blood dendritic cells in children with acute Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Blood 98, 2859-2861.
Flanagan, K. L., Lee, E.A.M., Gravenor, M.B., Reece, W.H.H., Urban, B.C., Doherty, T., Bojang, K.A., Pinder, M., Hill, A.V.S., Plebanski, M. 2001. Unique T-cell effector functions elicited by Plasmodium falciparum epitopes in malaria-exposed Africans tested by three T-cell assays. Journal of Immunology 167, 4729-4737.
Urban, B.C., Willcox, N., Roberts, D.J. 2001. A role for CD36 in the regulation of dendritic cell function. PNAS 98, 8750-8755.
Pain, A., Urban, B.C., Kai, O., Casals-Pascuals, C., Marsh, K., Roberts, D.J. 2001. A non-sense mutation in Cd36 gene is associated with protection from severe malaria. Lancet 357, 1502-1503.
Pain, A., Ferguson, D.J.P., Kai, O., Urban, B.C., Lowe, B., Marsh, K., Roberts, D.J. 2001. Platelets mediated clumping of P. falciparum infected erythrocytes is a common adhesive phenotype and is associated with severe disease. PNAS 98, 1805-1810.
Urban B.C., Ferguson D., Pain A., Plebanski M. Willcox N., Austyn J., Roberts D.J. 1999. Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes modulate the maturation of dendritic cells. Nature 400, 73-77.
Reviews:
Todryk, S.M., Urban, B.C. 2008. Dendritic cells in Plasmodium infection. Future Microbiology 3, 279-286. Review.
Urban, B.C. and Todryk, S. 2006. Malaria pigment paralyzes dendritic cells. Minireview, Journal of Biology 5,4.
Stevenson M.M., Urban B.C. 2006. Antigen Presentation and Dendritic Cell Biology in Malaria. Invited Review, Parasite Immunology, 28 5-14.
Ndungu, F., Urban, B.C., Marsh, K., Langhorne, J. 2005. Regulation of Malaria Immunity by Plasmodium falciparum-infected Red Blood Cells. Invited Review, Parasite immunology 27, 373-384.
Urban, B.C., Ing, R., Stevenson, M.M. 2005. Early events in immunity to malaria. Review, Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology 297, 25-97.
Urban, B.C. and Roberts, D.J. 2003. Inhibition of T cell function during malaria: implications for immunology and vaccinology. Comment. Journal of Experimental Medicine 107, 137 -141.