Phone

303-398-1281

Fax

303-270-2212

Email

huangh@njhealth.org

Website Address

Huang Laboratory

Gender

Male

Research Interests

Our lab studies the signaling and transcriptional regulation of allergic immune responses and T helper cell differentiation. CD4+ T helper cells (Th) are of critical importance in health and in disease. At least, three major types of Th subsets have been described—they are Th1, Th2 and Th17 subsets. Each subset can confer immune protection and cause tissue injury in the hosts. Our lab focuses on the signaling and transcriptional regulation of allergic cytokine gene expression. Our first project studies differentiation of allergic effector cells from bone marrow progenitors. We are mainly focusing on basophils and eosinophils. Basophils mediate their functions primarily by producing allergic cytokines including IL-4, IL-6, and TSLP. We have established an in vivo method to rapidly and specifically expand basophils and use this newly established method to study how basophils acquire the capacity to express allergic genes. Previously, we found that IL-5 functions as a potent factor that drives bone marrow progenitor cells to differentiate into Th2 cytokine-producing eosinophils. Currently, we conduct experiments to determine how the IL-5-STAT5-GATA1 axis regulates the Il4 gene in eosinophils. Our second project investigates the interaction between Th2 cells and bone marrow progenitor cells. Th immunity, once established, can recuit a variety of bone marrow-derived allergic effector cells, such as eosinophils, basophils, and mast cells. However, it is less clear whether Th2 cells can interact with bone marrow progenitors cells that are precusors to those bone marrow-derived allergic effector cells and influence their differentiation in vivo. We are using in vivo tracking method to analyze the interaction between Th2 cells and bone marrow progenitor. Our third project involves in understanding how naïve CD4+ T cells differentiation various T helper cells in vitro and in vivo. Despite a great deal of how Th2 cells is differentiated in vitro has been learned, little is known how Th2 immune responses are initiated in vivo. We focus on how Th2 immune responses are initiated in vivo in response to allergen challenge. A critical balance between the Th1 and Th2 immune responses can be achieved through positive and negative regulations. Our lab focuses on how STAT1 and T-bet silence the Il4 gene. Other projects include understanding the regulation of the Il17 gene, a gene that has been shown to be critical in many autoimmune diseases.

Education & Training

Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison

PhD, Developmental Biology, 1993

University of Wisconsin-Madison

MS, Immunology, 1991

University of Medical Science (Guangzhou, P. R. China)

MD, 1984

Fellowships

Leukemia Society Fellow and Postdoctoral fellow, The Laboratory of Immunology, NIAID, NIH

Immunology, 1995-1999

Leukemia Society Fellow, The Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University

Stem Cell Biology, 1993-1995

Awards & Recognition

Recent or Important Publications

Keitaro Ohmori, Yuchun Luo, Yi Jia, Jun Nishida, Zhengqi Wang, Kevin D. Bunting, Demin Wang, and Hua Huang. IL-3 Induces Basophil Expansion In Vivo by Directing Granulocyte-Monocyte Progenitors to Differentiate into Basophil Lineage-Restricted Progenitors in the Bone Marrow and by Increasing the Number of Basophil/Mast Cell Progenitors in the Spleen. J Immunol 182: 2835-2841 (2009).

Xin J, Ohmori K, Nishida J, Zhu Y, and Huang H. The initial response of CD4+ IL-4-producing cells. Int. Imm. 19: 305-310 (2007).

Huang Z, Xin JP, Coleman JM, and Huang H. IFN gamma suppresses STAT6 phosphorylation by inhibiting its recruitment to the IL-4 receptor. J Immunol 174(3):1332-1337 (2005).

Zhu YC, Chen L, Huang Z, Alkan S, Bunting KD, Wen RR, Wang D, and Huang H. IL-5 primes Th2 cytokine-producing capacity in eosinophils through a STAT5-dependent mechanism. Cutting Edge, J Immunol 173:2918-2922 (2004).

Zhang Y, Apilado R, Coleman J, Ben-Sasson SZ, Tsang S, Hu-Li J, Paul WE and Huang H. Inteferon gamma stabilizes the T helper cell type 1 phenotype. J Exp Med 194(2):165-172 (2001).

Curriculum Vitae

View Curriculum Vitae