By KRISTA CONGER

"Our previous studies identified a new family of genes called TIMs important in the regulation of immune responses, particularly in the development of asthma," said the grant’s principal investigator Dale Umetsu, MD, PhD.

"The grant will enable us to expand our investigation of the role of these genes in a mouse model of asthma by using knock-out or transgenic approaches. This grant will also allow us to continue our studies in humans to understand how TIM-1 functions as an asthma susceptibility gene and to understand the relationship between hepatitis A infection and the TIM-1 molecule."

Earlier epidemiological studies by Umetsu and his colleagues recently published in Nature showed that infection with the hepatitis A virus could protect people with a specific version of TIM-1 from developing asthma. The researchers found that in T cells and liver cells, TIM-1 serves as a cell-surface receptor for the virus, giving it the foothold necessary for infection.

"Now we’re also trying to understand what other immune system molecules bind to the TIM molecule on T cells," said Umetsu, a professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and chief of the division of allergy and immunology at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. "This will help us understand how the TIMs function in normal immune interactions."

Other Stanford and Packard Children’s Hospital researchers participating in the grant include Rosemarie DeKruyff, PhD, professor of pediatrics; Neil Risch, PhD, professor of genetics; and Marco Conti, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Gordon Freeman, PhD, of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute is a co-principal investigator.

New model illustrating how asthma develops shaped in medical center lab (8/7/02)

Researchers ID cells critical for asthma development (4/2/03)