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High Res

Jochen Mattner, MD

Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Phone: 513-803-0768

Email: Jochen.Mattner@cchmc.org

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Biography

Dr. Mattner's laboratory studies the role of NKT cells during microbial infection and the impact of their activation on the immune response.

Recently, we could identify self and microbial glycosphingolipid (GSL) ligands that trigger NKT cell activation. This observation led to the characterization of two general modes of NKT cell activation during microbial infection. One pathway involves recognition of endogenous antigen(s) upregulated through TLR signaling by gram-negative LPS-positive bacteria like Salmonella. The other involves direct recognition of microbial GSLs, the LPS substitutes in Sphingomonas and related alphaproteobacteria suggesting that NKT cells represent a major innate recognition pathway for this class of bacteria.

Based on recent compelling evidence that patients with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC) are seropositive for Sphingomonas and exhibit NKT cell redistribution to the liver, we could establish a mouse model of infection-triggered autoimmunity of the liver. As our previous work had identified microbial glycosphingolipid (GSL) ligands in the cell wall of Sphingomonas that trigger NKT cell activation (see above) and as the development of liver disease was CD1d dependent, we concluded that exposure to Sphingomonas facilitates the production of auto-antibodies against PBC antigens and the induction of auto-reactive T cells due to NKT cell help. In that context, the preferential activation of NKT cells in the liver, where NKT cells are abundant and Sphingomonas preliminarily persists, may explain the biased autoreactivity towards autoantigens exposed in the liver environment and, ultimately, the severe organ-specific manifestations of Sphingomonas infection.

The major focus of the laboratory is now to explore the intriguing possibility that some forms of autoimmune PBC may be triggered by infection with Sphingomonas or related bacteria.

Education and Training

MD: University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany, 2001.

Postdoc Scholar: University of Chicago, Department of Pathology, 2003-2005.

Research Associate / Assistant Professor: Department of Pathology, 2006-2007.

Publications

View PubMed Publications

Mattner J. Genetic susceptibility to autoimmune liver disease. World J Hepatol. 2011 Jan 27;3(1):1-7.

Mohammed JP, Mattner J. Autoimmune disease triggered by infection with alphaproteobacteria. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2009 Jul 1;5(4):369-379.

Yin N, Long X, Goff RD, Zhou D, Cantu C 3rd, Mattner J, Mezard PS, Teyton L, Bendelac A, Savage PB. Alpha anomers of iGb3 and Gb3 stimulate cytokine production by natural killer T cells. ACS Chem Biol. 2009 Mar 20;4(3):199-208.

Vas J, Mattner J, Richardson S, Ndonye R, Gaughan JP, Howell A, Monestier M. Regulatory roles for NKT cell ligands in environmentally induced autoimmunity. J Immunol. 2008 Nov 15;181(10):6779-88.

Mattner J, Savage PB, Leung P, Oertelt SS, Wang V, Trivedi O, Scanlon ST, Pendem K, Teyton L, Hart J, Ridgway WM, Wicker LS, Gershwin ME, Bendelac A. Liver autoimmunity triggered by microbial activation of natural killer T cells. Cell Host Microbe. 2008 May 15;3(5):304-15.

Liu Y, Deng S, Bai L, Freigang S, Mattner J, Teyton L, Bendelac A, Savage PB. Synthesis of diglycosylceramides and evaluation of their iNKT cell stimulatory properties. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2008 May 15;18(10):3052-5.

Pedra JH, Mattner J, Tao J, Kerfoot SM, Davis RJ, Flavell RA, Askenase PW, Yin Z, Fikrig E. c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase 2 inhibits gamma interferon production during Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection. Infect Immun. 2008 Jan;76(1):308-16.

Long X, Deng S, Mattner J, Zang Z, Zhou D, McNary N, Goff RD, Teyton L, Bendelac A, Savage PB. Synthesis and evaluation of stimulatory properties of Sphingomonadaceae glycolipids. Nat Chem Biol. 2007 Sep;3(9):559-64.

Rocha FJ, Schleicher U, Mattner J, Alber G, Bogdan C. Cytokines, signaling pathways, and effector molecules required for the control of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis in mice .Infect Immun. 2007 Aug;75(8):3823-32. Epub 2007 May 21.

Sagiv Y, Hudspeth K, Mattner J, Schrantz N, Stern RK, Zhou D, Savage PB, Teyton L, Bendelac A. Cutting edge: impaired glycosphingolipid trafficking and NKT cell development in mice lacking Niemann-Pick type C1 protein. J Immunol. 2006 Jul 1;177(1):26-30.