Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases
Kim J. Hasenkrug, Ph.D.
Chief, Retroviral Immunology Section
Senior Investigator
Dr. Hasenkrug received his Ph.D. in cell biology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1991 and conducted his postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Bruce Chesebro at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories. In 1998, he established an independent laboratory to study retroviral immunology and mechanisms of vaccine protection. A special focus of his work has been the study of establishment and maintenance of chronic infections and virus escape. Dr. Hasenkrug serves as an affiliated associate professor at Montana State University and the University of Montana and as a scientific advisor for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
Scanning electron micrograph of a CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cell isolated from a mouse spleen. Cells such as these protect from autoimmune diseases, but they can also suppress virus-specific immunity and thereby lead to chronic infections.
Description of Research Program
Our research is aimed at understanding host responses to retroviral infections. We use mice infected with Friend murine leukemia virus as a model to study basic immunology. A special interest is in chronic infections, including how chronic infections are established and maintained and developing strategies to prevent and treat them. Using this model, we discovered that viruses can subvert the suppressive nature of regulatory T cells to evade immunological destruction by CD8+ T cells. We also use “humanized” mice, mice that contain human immune systems, as a model to study immune responses to HIV infection and to help us determine basic mechanisms of vaccine protection against acute and chronic retroviral infections. The goal of these studies is to develop new ideas for HIV vaccines and therapies.
Editorial Boards
Research Group Members
From left to right: Dr. Amanda Duley, Dr. Lara Myers, Mr. Aaron Carmody, Dr. Kim Hasenkrug, Mr. Ronald Messer
Selected Publications
Myers L, Messer RJ, Carmody AB, Hasenkrug KJ. Tissue-specific abundance of regulatory T cells correlates with CD8+ T-cell dysfunction and chronic retrovirus loads. J Immunol. 2009 Aug 1;183(3):1636-43.
Myers L, Hasenkrug KJ. Retroviral immunology: lessons from a mouse model. Immunol Res. 2009;43(1-3):160-6.
Santiago ML, Montano M, Benitez R, Messer RJ, Yonemoto W, Chesebro B, Hasenkrug KJ*, Greene WC* (*shared senior authorship). Apobec3 encodes Rfv3, a gene influencing neutralizing antibody control of retrovirus infection. Science. 2008 Sep 5;321(5894):1343-6.
Robertson SJ, Messer RJ, Carmody AB, Mittler RS, Burlak C, Hasenkrug KJ. CD137 costimulation of CD8+ T cells confers resistance to suppression by virus-induced regulatory T cells. J Immunol. 2008 Apr 15;180(8):5267-74.
Hasenkrug KJ. The leptin connection: regulatory T cells and autoimmunity. Immunity. 2007 Feb;26(2):143-5. Review.
Koff WC, Johnson PR, Watkins DI, Burton DR, Lifson JD, Hasenkrug KJ, McDermott AB, Schultz A, Zamb TJ, Boyle R, Desrosiers RC. HIV vaccine design: insights from live attenuated SIV vaccines. Nat Immunol. 2006 Jan;7(1):19-23.
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