Vincent Tsiagbe

A major focus of my research for the past 30 year is a quest to understand the immunologic basis of B cell lymphoma development. This work unraveled a novel role for endogenous retrovirus in the promotion of germinal center-derived B cell lymphoma. Endogenous retroviruses are gene segments of ancient infectious viruses that have integrated into the host and degenerated over millions of years ago to become non-infectious. In this murine model, an endogenous retrovirus is activated by lymphoma B cells, which induce their production of retroviral superantigens. Such superantigens vigorously drive host helper T cells to produce growth factors for the lymphoma B cells. This process has been dubbed “reverse immune surveillance”. In our recent work, we have cloned human endogenous retrovirus from human diffuse large B cell lymphoma (HERV-WL). Antibodies raised to HERV-WL detects cancer associated antigen in aggressive cancers, such as squamous cell carcinomas. Another focus of our research involves the immunologic responses induced by A. actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) during the development of periodontal disease. This study unraveled a novel production by lymphocytes of Bone Morphogenic Protein 10 (BMP10). We are examining the role of BMP10 in lymphocyte activation.

BS, University of Ghana

MS, University of Wisconsin PhD, University of Wisconsin

1. Examination of saliva samples from patients with various cancers for the expression HERV-WL using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), before and after treatment.
2. Comparative testing of various monoclonal antibodies produced in our lab, for cell surface and intracellular detection of HERV-WL protein.
3. Examination BMP10 protein expression in lymphocytes, responding to various activation stimuli.

1. Erianne, G., Wajchman, J., Yauch, R., Tsiagbe, V.K., Kim, B.S., and Ponzio, N.M. B cell lymphomas of C57L/J mice; the role of Natural Killer cells and T helper cells in lymphoma development and growth. Leukemia Research 24:705-718, 2000.
2. Sen, N., Simmons,W.J., Erianne, G., Zhang, D.J., Huang,C., Thomas, R.M., Tsiagbe, V.K., N.M. Ponzio, and G.J. Thorbecke. META controlled env-initiated transcripts encoding superantigens of murine Mtv29 and Mtv7 and their possible role in B cell lymphomagenesis. J. Immunol. 166:5422-5429, 2001.
3. Simmons, W.J., Simms, M., Chiarle, R., MacKay, F., Tsiagbe, V.K., Browning J., Inghirami, G., and Thorbecke, G.J. Induction of germinal centers by MMTV encoded superantigen on B cells. Developmental Immunology. Dev. Immunol. 8:201-11, 2001.
4. Thomas, Rajan M., Haleem, Kamran, Siddique, Abu B., Simmons, William J., Sen, Namita, Zhang, Da-Jun and Tsiagbe, Vincent K.,. Regulation of META env initiated Mtv29 superantigen (vSAg29) transcripts in SJL/J mice lymphomas: role of Ikaros, demethylation, and chromatin structural change in the transcriptional activation of vSAg29. J. Immunol. 170:218-227, 2003.
5. Li, H., Ma, X., Moskovits, T., Inghirami, G., and Tsiagbe, V.K,. Identification of oligoclonal CD4 T cells in diffuse large B cell lymphomas. Clin. Immunol. 107:160-169, 2003.
6. Murano M, Xiong X, Murano N, Salzer JL, Lafaille JJ, Tsiagbe VK. Latent TGF-beta1-transduced CD4+ T cells suppress the progression of allergic encephalomyelitis. J Leukoc Biol. 79:140-146, 2006.
7. Scaglione BJ, Salerno E, Gala K, Pan M, Langer JA, Mostowski HS, Bauer S, Marti G, Li Y, Tsiagbe VK, Raveche ES. Regulatory T cells as central regulators of both autoimmunity and B cell malignancy in New Zealand Black mice. J. Autoimmun. 32:14-23, 2009.
8. Li Y, Messina C, Bendaoud M, Fine DH, Schreiner H, Tsiagbe VK,. Adaptive immune response in osteoclastic bone resorption induced by orally administered Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans in a rat model of periodontal disease. Mol Oral Microbiol. 25:275-292, 2010.
9. Tsiagbe, V.K., and Fine, D.H. Chapter 4. The Impact of Bacteria-Induced Adaptive Immune Responses in Periodontal Disease. In: Periodontal Diseases - A Clinician's Guide, First Edition; Ed. Jane Manakil; ISBN 978-953-307-818-2. InTech; pages 93-106, 2012.
10. Bezerra Bde B, Andriankaja O, Kang J, Pacios S, Bae HJ, Li Y, Tsiagbe V, Schreiner H, Fine DH, Graves DT. A.actinomycetemcomitans-induced periodontal disease promotes systemic and local responses in rat periodontium. J Clin Periodontol. 39(4):333-41, 2012.
11. Kang J, de Brito Bezerra B, Pacios S, Andriankaja O, Li Y, Tsiagbe V, Schreiner H, Fine DH, Graves DT. Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans infection enhances apoptosis in vivo through a caspase-3-dependent mechanism in experimental periodontitis. Infect Immun: 80(6) :2247-56, 2012.
12. Schreiner H, Li Y, Cline J, Tsiagbe VK, Fine DH. A Comparison of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) virulence traits in a Rat Model for Periodontal Disease. Plos One 8:e69382, 2013