Kristen M. Drescher, Ph.D.
Appointment(s) and Titles:
Associate Professor, Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Associate Professor of Medicine
Research Interests:
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in humans. Patients with MS normally experience a chronic progressive loss of motor and/or sensory functions. The origin of MS is unknown, although some investigators have postulated than an environmental agent (i.e. a virus or bacteria) may trigger the disease. My laboratory utilizes a mouse model of virus-induced demyelination (Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus) to study immune factors involved in the development of pathology and clinical disease.
Selected Publications:
Drescher, K.M., Pease, L.R., and Rodriguez, M. (1997). Antiviral immune responses modulate the nature of central nervous system (CNS) disease in a murine model of multiple sclerosis. Immunol Reviews 159: 177-193.
Drescher, K.M., Nguyen, L.T., Coenen, M.J., Leibowitz, J.L., Strauss, G., Hammerline, G.J., David, C.S., and Rodriguez, M. (1998). Expression of the human HLA-DR3 transgene reduces the severity of demyelination in a murine model of multiple sclerosis. J Clin Invest 101: 1765-1774.
Drescher, K.M., Murray, P.D., David, C.S., Pease, L.R. and Rodriguez, M. (1999). CNS cell populations are protected from virus-induced pathology by distinct arms of the immune system. Brain Pathol 9: 21-31.
Drescher, K.M., Zoecklein, L.J., Pavelko, K.D., Rivera-Quinones, C., Hollenbaugh, D. and Rodriguez, M. (2000) CD40L is critical for protection from demyelinating disease and development of spontaneous remyelination in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. Brain Pathology 9: 1-15.
Drescher, K.M., Murray, P.D., Lin, X., Carlino, J. and Rodriguez, M. (2000) TGFB reduces demyelination, virus antigen expression, and macrophage recruitment in a viral model of multiple sclerosis. J Immunol 164: 3207-3213.
Drescher KM, Lynch HT. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs): Lessons learned from 30 years of study. Clinical and Applied Immunological Reviews 2005;5:149-166.
Tracy S, Chapman NM, Drescher KM, Tapprich W. Evolution of virulence in picornaviruses. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 2006;299:193-210.
Kanno T, Kim K, Kono K, Drescher KM, Chapman NM, Tracy SM. Group B coxsackievirus diabetogenic phenotype correlates with replication efficiency. J Virol 2006;80:5637-5643. PMCID: PMC1472143
Drescher KM and Tracy SM. Injection of the sciatic nerve with TMEV: a new model for peripheral nerve demyelination. Virology 2007;359:233-242.
Tracy SM and Drescher KM. Coxsackievirus infections and NOD mice: Relevant models of protection from, and induction of, type 1 diabetes. How Do We Best Employ Animal Models for Type 1 Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis. Ann NY Acad Sci 2007;1130:143-151.
Drescher KM and Tracy SM. Establishment of a model to examine the events involved in the development of virus-induced demyelinating lesions. How Do We Best Employ Animal Models for Type 1 Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis. Ann NY Acad Sci 2007;1130:152-156.
Drescher KM and Sosnowska D. Being a mouse in a man’s world: what TMEV has taught us about human disease. Front Biosci 2008;13:3775-3785.
Chapman NM, Kim KS, Drescher KM, Oka K, Tracy S. 5’ terminal deletions in the genome of a coxsackievirus B2 strain occurred naturally in human heart. Virology 2008;375:480-491.
Drescher KM, Tracy SM. The CVB and etiology of type 1 diabetes. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 2008;323:259-274.
Oberste S, Drescher K, Tracy S. Group B coxsackieviruses. Preface. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 2008;323:v-vi.
Lynch HT, Drescher KM, de la Chapelle A. Immunology and the Lynch syndrome. Gastroenterology 2008;134:1246-1249.
Drescher KM, Sharma P, Watson P, Gatalica Z, Thibodeau SN, Lynch HT. (2009)Familial Cancer, in press.
Liu J, Drescher KM, Chen X-M. (2009) MicroRNAs and Epithelial Immunity, International Reviews in Immunolgy, in press
Gong A-Y, Zhou R, Hu G, Liu J, Sosnowska D, Drescher KM, Dong H, Chen X-M (2009), Cryptosporidium parvum induces B7-H1 expression in cholangiocytes by downregulating microRNA 513. Journal of Infectious Diseases, in press.