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Translational Immunology Group

The Translational Immunology Group is led by Professor Padraic Fallon. The objective of the Fallon research team is to elucidate underlying mechanisms of aberrant immune function and develop novel therapeutic strategies for inflammatory diseases.  The main diseases addressed are allergic lung inflammation (asthma), skin inflammation (eczema) and inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease). Our research involves the translational spectrum from samples from patients to the use of animal models.

The Team

Prof Padraic Fallon.

Prof Fallon is Science Foundation Ireland Stokes Professor of Translational Immunology, School of Medicine, TCD.

Dr Emily Hams

SFI SIRG Investigator

Dr Achilleas Floudas

Irish Research Council Fellow

Dr Christian Schwartz

EMBO Fellow

Joanne Tilley

Laboratory Manager

Eric Rogers

Research Assistant

Tara Moran

PhD Student

Research is funded by

Funding Partners

Contact Us

Inflammation and Immunity Group,
Institute of Molecular Medicine,
Trinity Centre for Health Sciences,
St James’ Hospital,
Dublin 8,
Ireland.

Tel: +353 1 896 3297
Fax: +353 1 896 4040
immunol@tcd.ie

Selected Publications (2012 to present)

2016:
Hams E, Bermingham R, Wurlod FA, Hogan AE, O’Shea D, Preston RJ, Rodewald HR, McKenzie AN, Fallon PG. (2016). The helminth T2 RNase ω1 promotes metabolic homeostasis in an IL-33 and group 2 innate lymphoid cell-dependent mechanism.  FASEB 30:824.

S.P. Saunders, T. M., A, Floudas,  F.Wurlod, A.Kaszlikowska, M. Salimi, .E. M. Quinn, C.J. Oliphant,  G. Núñez, R.McManus, E.Hams, A. N. J. McKenzie, G. Ogg, P.G. Fallon (2016) Spontaneous atopic dermatitis is mediated by innate immunity with the secondary lung inflammation of the atopic march requiring adaptive immunity. J Allergy Clin Immunol 137:482-91

Halim TY, Hwang YY, Scanlon ST, Zaghouani H, Garbi N, Fallon PG, McKenzie AN. (2016) Group 2 innate lymphoid cells license dendritic cells to potentiate memory TH2 cell responses. Nat Immunol. 2016 Jan;17(1):57-64
O’Regan N, Gegenbauer K, O’Sullivan JM, Maleki S, Brophy TM, Dalton N, Chion A, Fallon PG, Grau GE, Budde U, Smith OP, Craig AG, Preston RJ, O’Donnell JS. (2016) A novel role for von Willebrand factor in the pathogenesis of experimental cerebral malaria. Blood 127:1192.

R.Jarrett, M.Salio, A.Lloyd-Lavery, S.Subramaniam, E.Bourgeois, C.Archer, A. Cheung, C. Hardman, D.Chandler, M.Salimi, D.Gutowska-Owsiak, J.Bernardino de la Serna, P.G. Fallon, H.Jolin, A. Mckenzie, A. Dziembowski, E. Izabela Podobas, W.Bal, D. Johnson, D Branch Moody, V.Cerundolo, G.Ogg  (2016). Filaggrin inhibits generation of CD1a neolipid antigens by house dust mite derived phospholipase. Sci Transl Med 10:324.

C.Schwartz, K.O’Grady, E.C. Lavelle, Fallon, P.G. (2016) Interleukin 33: an innate alarm for adaptive T cell immunity. Eur J Immunol. 46(5):1091-100

S.E. Russell, R.M. Horan, A.M. Stefanska, A. Carey, G. Leon, M.A. Pajubet, D. Statovci , T. Moran, P.G. Fallon, F.Shanahan, E.K. Brint, S. Melgar, S. Hussey, P.T. Walsh. (2016). IL-36a expression is elevated in ulcerative colitis and promotes colonic inflammation.  Mucosal Immunology 9(5):1193-204

Floudas, A., Amu, S. Fallon. P.G. (2016). New insights into IL-10 dependent and IL-10 independent regulatory B cell immune suppression. J. Clin Immunol. Suppl 1:25-33

Yang,Y., Andersson,P., K Hosaka,., Zhang,Y., Cao, R., Iwamoto,H., Yang, X., Nakamura,M., Wang,Y., Zhuang, R., Morikawa, H., Xue,Y., Braun, H., Beyaert,R., Samani,N., Nakae,S., Hams,E., Dissing,S. Fallon,P.G., Langer, R.and Cao, C. (2016). The PDGF-BB-SOX7 axis-modulated IL-33 in pericytes and stromal cells promotes metastasis through tumor-associated macrophages. Nature Communications. 7:11385

Chion A, O'Sullivan JM, Drakeford C, Bergsson G, Dalton N, Aguila S, Ward S, Fallon PG, Brophy TM, Preston RJ, Brady L, Sheils O, Laffan M, McKinnon TA, O'Donnell JS. (2016)N-linked glycans within the A2 domain of von Willebrand factor modulate macrophage-mediated clearance. Blood. 128(15):1959-1968.

Korniotis S, Gras C, Letscher H, Montandon R, Mégret J, Siegert S, Ezine S, Fallon PG, Luther SA, Fillatreau S, Zavala F (2016). Treatment of ongoing autoimmune encephalomyelitis with activated B-cell progenitors maturing into regulatory B cells. Nature Communications 7:12134

O'Sullivan JM, Aguila S, McRae E, Ward SE, Rawley O, Fallon PG, Brophy TM, Preston RJ, Brady L, Sheils O, Chion A, O'Donnell JS. (2016) N-linked glycans within the A2 domain of von Willebrand factor modulate macrophage-mediated clearance  Blood 128: 1959-1968

CT Taylor, G Doherty, PG Fallon, EP Cummins. (2016).Hypoxia-dependent regulation of inflammatory pathways in immune cells.  Journal of Clinical investigation 126 (10), 3716

Kennedy EA, Connolly J, Hourihane JO, Fallon PG, McLean WH, Murray D, Jo JH, Segre JA, Kong HH, Irvine AD. (2016).  Skin microbiome before development of atopic dermatitis: Early colonization with commensal staphylococci at 2 months is associated with a lower risk of atopic dermatitis at 1 year.  J All Clin Immunol Sep 5

2015:
Barr, M.P., S.G. Gray, K. Gately, E. Hams, P.G. Fallon, A.M. Davies, D.J. Richard, G.P. Pidgeon, and K.J. O'Byrne (2015) Vascular endothelial growth factor is an autocrine growth factor, signaling through neuropilin-1 in non-small cell lung cancer. Molecular Cancer. 14(1):45.

MacLeod AK, Fallon PG, Sharp S, Henderson CJ, Wolf CR, Huang JT. (2015) An enhanced in vivo stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) model for quantification of drug metabolism enzymes. Molecular & cellular proteomics  14:750-60.

Rawley, O., J.M. O'Sullivan, A. Chion, S. Keyes, M. Lavin, N. van Rooijen, T.M. Brophy, P. Fallon, R.J. Preston, and J.S. O'Donnell. (2015) von Willebrand factor arginine 1205 substitution results in accelerated macrophage-dependent clearance in vivo. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis : 13(5):821-

Walker, J.A., C.J. Oliphant, A. Englezakis, Y. Yu, S. Clare, H.R. Rodewald, G. Belz, P. Liu, P.G. Fallon, and A.N. McKenzie. (2015). Bcl11b is essential for group 2 innate lymphoid cell development. The Journal of Experimental Medicine. 212: 875-888.

Khan, A. R. A., Hams,E.,  Floudas, A., Sparwasser, T., and Weaver, C. T., Fallon, P.G. (2015) PD-L1hi B cells are critical regulators of humoral immunity. Nature Communications;6:5997

Khan, A.R., S. Amu, S.P. Saunders, E. Hams, G. Blackshields, M.O. Leonard, C.T. Weaver, T. Sparwasser, O. Sheils, and P.G. Fallon. (2015) Ligation of TLR7 on CD19 CD1d B cells suppresses allergic lung inflammation via regulatory T cells. European Journal of Immunology. 45(6):1842-54.

Cluxton CD, Caffrey, B.E., Kinsella, G.K., Moynagh, P.N., Fares, M.A. &  Fallon, P.G. (2015) Functional conservation of an ancestral Pellino protein in helminth species. Scientific Reports. 5:11687
Hams E, Bermingham R, Fallon PG. (2015) Macrophages and innate lymphoid cell interplay in genesis of fibrosis. Front Immunol. 2015 Nov 23;6:597.

Spence S, Greene MK, Fay F, Hams E, Saunders SP, Hamid U, Fitzgerald M, Beck J, Bains BK, Smyth P, Themistou E, Small DM, Schmid D, O’Kane CM, Fitzgerald DC, Abdelghany SM, Johnston JA, Fallon PG, Burrows JF, McAuley DF, Kissenpfennig A, Scott CJ. Targeting Siglecs with a sialic acid-decorated nanoparticle abrogates inflammation. Sci Transl Med. 2015 Sep 2;7(303):303ra140

2014:
Aviello, G., Amu, S., Saunders, S. P., and Fallon, P. G. (2014) A mineral extract from red algae ameliorates chronic spontaneous colitis in IL-10 deficient mice in a mouse strain dependent manner. Phytotherapy Research : PTR 28, 300-304

Aviello, G., Corr, S. C., Johnston, D. G., O'Neill, L. A., and Fallon, P. G. (2014) MyD88 adaptor-like (Mal) regulates intestinal homeostasis and colitis-associated colorectal cancer in mice. American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology 306, G769-778

Corr, S. C., Palsson-McDermott, E. M., Grishina, I., Barry, S. P., Aviello, G., Bernard, N. J., Casey, P. G., Ward, J. B., Keely, S. J., Dandekar, S., Fallon, P. G., and O'Neill, L. A. (2014) MyD88 adaptor-like (Mal) functions in the epithelial barrier and contributes to intestinal integrity via protein kinase C. Mucosal Immunology 7, 57-67

Doyle, S. L., Ozaki, E., Brennan, K., Humphries, M. M., Mulfaul, K., Keaney, J., Kenna, P. F., Maminishkis, A., Kiang, A. S., Saunders, S. P., Hams, E., Lavelle, E. C., Gardiner, C., Fallon, P. G., Adamson, P., Humphries, P., and Campbell, M. (2014) IL-18 attenuates experimental choroidal neovascularization as a potential therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration. Science Translational Medicine 6, 230ra244

Fernandes, P., O'Donnell, C., Lyons, C., Keane, J., Regan, T., O'Brien, S., Fallon, P., Brint, E., and Houston, A. (2014) Intestinal Expression of Fas and Fas Ligand Is Upregulated by Bacterial Signaling through TLR4 and TLR5, with Activation of Fas Modulating Intestinal TLR-Mediated Inflammation. Journal of Immunology  193, 6103-6113.

Gleeson, E. M., O'Donnell, J. S., Hams, E., Ni Ainle, F., Kenny, B. A., Fallon, P. G., and Preston, R. J. (2014) Activated factor X signaling via protease-activated receptor 2 suppresses pro-inflammatory cytokine production from lipopolysaccharide-stimulated myeloid cells. Haematologica 99, 185-193

Hams, E., Armstrong, M. E., Barlow, J. L., Saunders, S. P., Schwartz, C., Cooke, G., Fahy, R. J., Crotty, T. B., Hirani, N., Flynn, R. J., Voehringer, D., McKenzie, A. N., Donnelly, S. C., and Fallon, P. G. (2014) IL-25 and type 2 innate lymphoid cells induce pulmonary fibrosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111, 367-372

Khan, A. R., Amu, S., Saunders, S. P., and Fallon, P. G. (2014) The generation of regulatory B cells by helminth parasites. Methods in Molecular Biology 1190, 143-162

Linehan, E., Dombrowski, Y., Snoddy, R., Fallon, P. G., Kissenpfennig, A., and Fitzgerald, D. C. (2014) Aging impairs peritoneal but not bone marrow-derived macrophage phagocytosis. Aging Cell 13, 699-708

Mroz, M. S., Keating, N., Ward, J. B., Sarker, R., Amu, S., Aviello, G., Donowitz, M., Fallon, P. G., and Keely, S. J. (2014) Farnesoid X receptor agonists attenuate colonic epithelial secretory function and prevent experimental diarrhoea in vivo. Gut 63, 808-817

Oliphant, C. J., Hwang, Y. Y., Walker, J. A., Salimi, M., Wong, S. H., Brewer, J. M., Englezakis, A., Barlow, J. L., Hams, E., Scanlon, S. T., Ogg, G. S., Fallon, P. G., and McKenzie, A. N. (2014) MHCII-mediated dialog between group 2 innate lymphoid cells and CD4(+) T cells potentiates type 2 immunity and promotes parasitic helminth expulsion. Immunity 41, 283-295

Schiering, C., Krausgruber, T., Chomka, A., Frohlich, A., Adelmann, K., Wohlfert, E. A., Pott, J., Griseri, T., Bollrath, J., Hegazy, A. N., Harrison, O. J., Owens, B. M., Lohning, M., Belkaid, Y., Fallon, P. G., and Powrie, F. (2014) The alarmin IL-33 promotes regulatory T-cell function in the intestine. Nature 513, 564-568

2013:
Enoksson, M., Moller-Westerberg, C., Wicher, G., Fallon, P. G., Forsberg-Nilsson, K., Lunderius-Andersson, C., and Nilsson, G. (2013) Intraperitoneal influx of neutrophils in response to IL-33 is mast cell-dependent. Blood 121, 530-536

Hams, E., Aviello, G., and Fallon, P. G. (2013) The schistosoma granuloma: friend or foe? Frontiers in Immunology 4, 89

Hams, E., Locksley, R. M., McKenzie, A. N., and Fallon, P. G. (2013) Cutting edge: IL-25 elicits innate lymphoid type 2 and type II NKT cells that regulate obesity in mice. Journal of Immunology 191, 5349-5353

Khan, A. R., and Fallon, P. G. (2013) Helminth therapies: translating the unknown unknowns to known knowns. International Journal for Parasitology 43, 293-299

Knosp, C. A., Schiering, C., Spence, S., Carroll, H. P., Nel, H. J., Osbourn, M., Jackson, R., Lyubomska, O., Malissen, B., Ingram, R., Fitzgerald, D. C., Powrie, F., Fallon, P. G., Johnston, J. A., and Kissenpfennig, A. (2013) Regulation of Foxp3+ inducible regulatory T cell stability by SOCS2. Journal of Immunology 190, 3235-3245

Mroz, M. S., Keating, N., Ward, J. B., Sarker, R., Amu, S., Aviello, G., Donowitz, M., Fallon, P. G., and Keely, S. J. (2013) Farnesoid X receptor agonists attenuate colonic epithelial secretory function and prevent experimental diarrhoea in vivo. Gut 63 :808-17.

O'Dwyer, D. N., Armstrong, M. E., Trujillo, G., Cooke, G., Keane, M. P., Fallon, P. G., Simpson, A. J., Millar, A. B., McGrath, E. E., Whyte, M. K., Hirani, N., Hogaboam, C. M., and Donnelly, S. C. (2013) The Toll-like receptor 3 L412F polymorphism and disease progression in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 188, 1442-1450

Russell, S. E., Stefanska, A. M., Kubica, M., Horan, R. M., Mantovani, A., Garlanda, C., Fallon, P. G., and Walsh, P. T. (2013) Toll IL-1R8/single Ig IL-1-related receptor regulates psoriasiform inflammation through direct inhibition of innate IL-17A expression by gammadelta T cells. Journal of Immunology 191, 3337-3346

Salimi, M., Barlow, J. L., Saunders, S. P., Xue, L., Gutowska-Owsiak, D., Wang, X., Huang, L. C., Johnson, D., Scanlon, S. T., McKenzie, A. N., Fallon, P. G., and Ogg, G. S. (2013) A role for IL-25 and IL-33-driven type-2 innate lymphoid cells in atopic dermatitis. The Journal of Experimental Medicine 210, 2939-2950

Saunders, S. P., Goh, C. S., Brown, S. J., Palmer, C. N., Porter, R. M., Cole, C., Campbell, L. E., Gierlinski, M., Barton, G. J., Schneider, G., Balmain, A., Prescott, A. R., Weidinger, S., Baurecht, H., Kabesch, M., Gieger, C., Lee, Y. A., Tavendale, R., Mukhopadhyay, S., Turner, S. W., Madhok, V. B., Sullivan, F. M., Relton, C., Burn, J., Meggitt, S., Smith, C. H., Allen, M. A., Barker, J. N., Reynolds, N. J., Cordell, H. J., Irvine, A. D., McLean, W. H., Sandilands, A., and Fallon, P. G. (2013) Tmem79/Matt is the matted mouse gene and is a predisposing gene for atopic dermatitis in human subjects. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 132, 1121-1129

Scalfone, L. K., Nel, H. J., Gagliardo, L. F., Cameron, J. L., Al-Shokri, S., Leifer, C. A., Fallon, P. G., and Appleton, J. A. (2013) Participation of MyD88 and interleukin-33 as innate drivers of Th2 immunity to Trichinella spiralis. Infection and Immunity 81, 1354-1363

Scholz, C. C., Cavadas, M. A., Tambuwala, M. M., Hams, E., Rodriguez, J., Kriegsheim, A., Cotter, P., Bruning, U., Fallon, P. G., Cheong, A., Cummins, E. P., and Taylor, C. T. (2013) Regulation of IL-1beta-induced NF-kappaB by hydroxylases links key hypoxic and inflammatory signaling pathways. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110, 18490-18495

Sedhom, M. A., Pichery, M., Murdoch, J. R., Foligne, B., Ortega, N., Normand, S., Mertz, K., Sanmugalingam, D., Brault, L., Grandjean, T., Lefrancais, E., Fallon, P. G., Quesniaux, V., Peyrin-Biroulet, L., Cathomas, G., Junt, T., Chamaillard, M., Girard, J. P., and Ryffel, B. (2013) Neutralisation of the interleukin-33/ST2 pathway ameliorates experimental colitis through enhancement of mucosal healing in mice. Gut 62, 1714-1723

Yang, S., Wang, B., Humphries, F., Jackson, R., Healy, M. E., Bergin, R., Aviello, G., Hall, B., McNamara, D., Darby, T., Quinlan, A., Shanahan, F., Melgar, S., Fallon, P. G., and Moynagh, P. N. (2013) Pellino3 ubiquitinates RIP2 and mediates Nod2-induced signaling and protective effects in colitis. Nature Immunology 14, 927-936

2012:
Bonilla, W. V., Frohlich, A., Senn, K., Kallert, S., Fernandez, M., Johnson, S., Kreutzfeldt, M., Hegazy, A. N., Schrick, C., Fallon, P. G., Klemenz, R., Nakae, S., Adler, H., Merkler, D., Lohning, M., and Pinschewer, D. D. (2012) The alarmin interleukin-33 drives protective antiviral CD8(+) T cell responses. Science 335, 984-989

Bowie, R. V., Donatello, S., Lyes, C., Owens, M. B., Babina, I. S., Hudson, L., Walsh, S. V., O'Donoghue, D. P., Amu, S., Barry, S. P., Fallon, P. G., and Hopkins, A. M. (2012) Lipid rafts are disrupted in mildly inflamed intestinal microenvironments without overt disruption of the epithelial barrier. American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology 302, G781-793

Broadhurst, M. J., Leung, J. M., Lim, K. C., Girgis, N. M., Gundra, U. M., Fallon, P. G., Premenko-Lanier, M., McKerrow, J. H., McCune, J. M., and Loke, P. (2012) Upregulation of retinal dehydrogenase 2 in alternatively activated macrophages during retinoid-dependent type-2 immunity to helminth infection in mice. PLoS Pathogens 8, e1002883

Downer, E. J., Clifford, E., Amu, S., Fallon, P. G., and Moynagh, P. N. (2012) The synthetic cannabinoid R(+)WIN55,212-2 augments interferon-beta expression via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 287, 25440-25453

Hams, E., and Fallon, P. G. (2012) Innate type 2 cells and asthma. Current Opinion in Pharmacology 12, 503-509

Kezic, S., O'Regan, G. M., Lutter, R., Jakasa, I., Koster, E. S., Saunders, S., Caspers, P., Kemperman, P. M., Puppels, G. J., Sandilands, A., Chen, H., Campbell, L. E., Kroboth, K., Watson, R., Fallon, P. G., McLean, W. H., and Irvine, A. D. (2012) Filaggrin loss-of-function mutations are associated with enhanced expression of IL-1 cytokines in the stratum corneum of patients with atopic dermatitis and in a murine model of filaggrin deficiency. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 129, 1031-1039 e1031

Mellett, M., Atzei, P., Horgan, A., Hams, E., Floss, T., Wurst, W., Fallon, P. G., and Moynagh, P. N. (2012) Orphan receptor IL-17RD tunes IL-17A signalling and is required for neutrophilia. Nature communications 3, 1119

Nakai, K., Yoneda, K., Hosokawa, Y., Moriue, T., Presland, R. B., Fallon, P. G., Kabashima, K., Kosaka, H., and Kubota, Y. (2012) Reduced expression of epidermal growth factor receptor, E-cadherin, and occludin in the skin of flaky tail mice is due to filaggrin and loricrin deficiencies. The American Journal of Pathology 181, 969-977

Russell, S. E., Moore, A. C., Fallon, P. G., and Walsh, P. T. (2012) Soluble IL-2Ralpha (sCD25) exacerbates autoimmunity and enhances the development of Th17 responses in mice. PloS One 7, e47748

Verma, N. K., Dempsey, E., Long, A., Davies, A., Barry, S. P., Fallon, P. G., Volkov, Y., and Kelleher, D. (2012) Leukocyte function-associated antigen-1/intercellular adhesion molecule-1 interaction induces a novel genetic signature resulting in T-cells refractory to transforming growth factor-beta signaling. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 287, 27204-27216

Viejo-Borbolla, A., Martinez-Martin, N., Nel, H. J., Rueda, P., Martin, R., Blanco, S., Arenzana-Seisdedos, F., Thelen, M., Fallon, P. G., and Alcami, A. (2012) Enhancement of chemokine function as an immunomodulatory strategy employed by human herpesviruses. PLoS Pathogens 8, e1002497

Wong, S. H., Walker, J. A., Jolin, H. E., Drynan, L. F., Hams, E., Camelo, A., Barlow, J. L., Neill, D. R., Panova, V., Koch, U., Radtke, F., Hardman, C. S., Hwang, Y. Y., Fallon, P. G., and McKenzie, A. N. (2012) Transcription factor RORalpha is critical for nuocyte development. Nature Immunology 13, 229-236

Young, A., Linehan, E., Hams, E., O'Hara Hall, A. C., McClurg, A., Johnston, J. A., Hunter, C. A., Fallon, P. G., and Fitzgerald, D. C. (2012) Cutting edge: suppression of GM-CSF expression in murine and human T cells by IL-27. Journal of Immunology 189, 2079-2083