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| Name |
Lanier, Lewis L. |
| Location
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University of California, San Francisco |
| Primary Field
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Immunology and Inflammation |
 Election Citation
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Lanier has made seminal contributions to the biology of Natural Killer cells. He demonstrated the existence and clonal distribution of inhibitory receptors and uncovered the importance of many molecules in Natural Killer cell recognition, regulation, and function. |
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Research Interests
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Natural killer (NK) cells are a type of white blood cell that provides protection against microbial pathogens and tumors. Since the early 1980's, our lab has investigated how NK cells distinguish between normal healthy cells and cells that are transformed or infected with viruses. NK cells express a diverse array of inhibitory and activating receptors on their cells surface that bind to ligands expressed on the cell surface of potential target cells. When encountering healthy cells, signals transmitted by inhibitory NK receptors dominate and prevent autoimmunity, whereas the loss of ligands for the inhibitory receptors or the upregulation of ligands for the activating NK receptors on infected or transformed cells allows NK cells to kill these abnormal cells and secrete cytokine that influence the subsequent response by T cells and B cells. |
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