Endocrinology

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Jonathan D. Katz, PhD

Appointment

Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Email

jonathan.katz@cchmc.org

Phone

513-636-5305

Fax

513-636-5314

Bio

In his laboratory, Jonathan D. Katz, Ph.D., focuses on autoreactive T cells in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). These T cells are the culprits responsible for orchestrating in the autoimmunity attack against the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. The non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse represents the best animal model existent for studying IDDM.

To better understand the development and action of these T cells, Dr. Katz created lines of transgenic NOD mice carrying the rearranged T cell receptor genes from one such diabetogenic T cell, which recognizes a naturally occurring beta cell antigen. The resulting T cells from these transgenic mice were not render tolerant, but developed normally and precipitated a severe and precautions insulitis.

Strikingly, they did not accelerate the appearance of overt diabetes -- although the penetrance was elevated in early backcrosses. He now investigates the transition from insulitis to the diabetic phase of IDDM using his transgenic mice.

Moreover, he studied the interaction of these T cells with those of the CD8 T cell compartment in eliciting diabetes. Dr. Katz has found that beta cells in his mice undergo an apoptotic cell death as a result of T cell infiltration. His lab currently is examining the mechanisms by which the infiltrating T cells mediate this death process.

Recently published studies suggest that TNF-alpha plays an important role in this process. Additionally, his lab works on identifying the beta cell antigens recognized by his TCR transgenic T cell using peptide mimics.

Credentials

BS: Microbiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1984.

PhD: Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif., 1990.

Post-Doctoral Fellow: Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France, 1990-1995.

Awards and Honors

Recipient, Career Development Award, American Diabetes Association (ADA), 1996-1998.

Research

Immunology, Autoimmunity, Type 1 Diabetes

Research Grants and Contracts

2002-2007 Principal Investigator, USPHS R01 DK62274. Using genomics to understand autoimmune diabetes. $950,000 total direct


2006-2008 Principal Investigator, USPHS R21 DK75769. The Insulitis Reporter Mouse. $250,000 total direct


2006-2009 Principal Investigator, JDRF 1-2006-744. Pulling back the covers on insulitis. $495,000 total direct

Publications, Most Recent

View Jonathan Katz's publications as listed by PubMed.

Wojciechowski S, Tripathi P, Bourdeau T, Acero L, Grimes HL, Katz JD, Finkelman FD, Hildeman DA. Bim/Bcl-2 balance is critical for maintaining naive and memory T cell homeostasis.J Exp Med 2007; 204:1665-1675

Saxena V., Ondr JK, Magnusen AF, Munn D, Katz JD. The countervailing actions of myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells control autoimmune diabetes. J Immunology 2007 (in press).

Cain JA, Smith JA, Ondr JK, Wang B, Katz JD. NKT cells and interferon-î¹ establish the regulatory environment for the control of diabetogenic T cells in the NOD mouse.J Immunol 2006;176:1645-1654.

Sankaranand VS, Belli JM, Ishii K, Jegga AG, Hutton JJ, Aronow BJ, Katz JD. The Dynamic interplay between between T cell mediated beta cell damage and beta cell repair in the run-up to autoimmune diabetes in the NOD mouse as revealed by functional genomics.Physiol Genomics 2005;21:201-211.

Hutton JJ, Jegga AG, Kong S, Gupta A, Ebert C, Williams S, Katz JD, Aronow BJ. Microarray and comparative genomics-based identification of genes and gene regulatory regions of the mouse immune system.BMC Genomics 2004;5:82.

Professional Organization Memberships

  • American Association of Immunologists
  • Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
  • American Diabetes Association
  • Immunology of Diabetes Society
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science

    • Special Interests

    T cells; MHC, Beta cell death; Islet antigens.

    Reviwer/Editor Responsibilities

    • Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, Medical Science Research Committee (Immunology)
    • Ad hoc, National Institute of Health (NIDDK and NIAID), Special Emphasis Panels
    • Ad hoc, Wellcome Trust, London, England
    • Ad Hoc, NIH-CSR, Immunological Sciences (IMS) Study Section
    • Member, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Pre-doctoral Fellowship Review Panel
    • Member, Hypersensitivity, Inflammation and Allergy (HAI) Study Section
    • Associate Editor, Journal of Immunology
    • Member, Editorial Board, Diabetes

    Presentations, Most Recent

    Oct 2002 Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
    Sept 2003 La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, La Jolla CA
    Oct 2003 Autoimmune Disease Conference, Mykanos, Greece
    Oct 2003 H. San Rafaele, Milano, Italy
    Feb 2004 University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
    Mar 2005 University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
    May 2005 Shandong University, Jinan China
    Mar 2006 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
    Oct 2006 4th International NKT/CD1 Workshop, Tuscany, IT

    Related Areas

    This person works in these other areas at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center: