The main interest of the laboratory lies in the immunology of Leishmania infections, focusing on CD8+ T-cell biology. Two aspects of CD8+ T-cell biology are currently investigated:

1) The development of effector and memory CD8+ T-cell responses in the experimental model of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL);

2) The requirements for vaccine-induced CD8+ T-cell responses.

We engineered transgenic Leishmania donovani parasites expressing Ovalbumin as a model antigen. These parasites allow us to study antigen-specific CD8+ T- cell responses, giving special consideration to early priming events, to the requirements for induction and maintenance of effector CD8+ T-cell responses, and to the generation of memory cells. The experimental model for VL is a great model to investigate the dynamic of in vivo generated CD8+ T- cell responses in a setting of chronic infection.

Polley R, Stager S, Prickett S, Maroof A, Zubairi S, Smith DF, Kaye PM. (2006) Adoptive immunotherapy against experimental visceral leishmaniasis with CD8+ T cells requires the presence of cognate antigen. Infect Immun 74(1):773-6 [PubMed]

Stäger S, Maroof A, Zubairi S, Sanos SL, Kopf M, Kaye PM. (2006) Distinct roles for IL-6 and IL-12p40 in mediating protection against Leishmania donovani and the expansion of IL-10+ CD4+ T cells. Eur J Immunol 36(7):1764-71 [PubMed]

Stäger S, Kaye PM. (2004) CD8+ T-cell priming regulated by cytokines of the innate immune system. Trends Mol Med 10(8):366-71 [PubMed]

Engwerda CR, Ato M, Stäger S, Alexander CE, Stanley AC, Kaye PM. (2004) Distinct roles for lymphotoxin-alpha and tumor necrosis factor in the control of Leishmania donovani infection. Am J Pathol 165(6):2123-33 [PubMed]

Stäger S, Alexander J, Kirby AC, Botto M, Rooijen NV, Smith DF, Brombacher F, Kaye PM. (2003) Natural antibodies and complement are endogenous adjuvants for vaccine-induced CD8+ T-cell responses. Nat Med 9(10):1287-92 [PubMed]

Ato M, Stäger S, Engwerda CR, Kaye PM.. (2002) Defective CCR7 expression on dendritic cells contributes to the development of visceral leishmaniasis. Nat Immunol 3(12):1185-91 [PubMed]