UCSF GI DIVISION FACULTY

Jody Baron, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Medicine, UCSF

Address:

Box 0538
University of California, San Francisco
San Francico, CA 94143

Email:

jody.baron@ucsf.edu

Active Projects:

We have now developed a novel transgenic mouse system that models the immune response that would occur in a natural primary Hepatitis B Virus infection. This model has allowed us to begin to address many of the unanswered questions relating to Hepatitis B Virus immunopathogenesis. Acute Hepatitis:
  1. To identify the cytokines, and other molecules involved in the innate immune response to HBV in our transgenic mouse model
  2. To identify the ligand(s) recognized by the NKT cells in response to HBV (in the context of CD1d): viral product being presented vs presentation of self (e.g. glycolipid)
  3. To characterize the role of the innate immune response in the regulation of HBV replication
  4. To elucidate the mechanism of CD1d upregulation in the livers of HBV transgenic mice
Chronic Hepatitis:
  1. To identify the immunologic mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B infection, and how these immune mechanisms involved in chronic hepatitis B differ from mechanisms involved in successful viral clearance.
  2. To characterize the role of the innate immune response in the evolution of subsequent adaptive immunity.
  3. To identify cell types, and cytokines that lead to chronic hepatitis versus clearance by deletion experiments using knock out mice (e.g. interferon gamma KO, CD8 KO, etc.)
  4. To identify external interventions (e.g. immunization, cellular or cytokine therapy), which can be used to direct the innate and adaptive immune systems to resolve rather than cause disease.

Techniques in Use:

Molecular virology, transgenic and KO mice, cellular immunology, and Immunohistochemistry

Recent Publications:

Stetson DB, Mohrs M, Reinhardt RL, Baron JL, Wang ZE, Gapin L, Kronenberg M, Locksley RM. Constitutive cytokine mRNAs mark natural killer (NK) and NK T cells poised for rapid effector function. J Exp Med. 2003 Oct 6;198(7):1069-76.

Matsuda JL, Gapin L, Baron JL, Sidobre S, Stetson DB, Mohrs M, Locksley RM, Kronenberg M. Mouse V alpha 14i natural killer T cells are resistant to cytokine polarization in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Jul 8;100(14):8395-400.