Research Programs

Amy Major, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine

The Major laboratory is interested in understanding the link between accelerated atherosclerosis and autoimmunity and their research goals are designed to better understand the role of immunity in atherosclerosis and how dyslipidemia can modulate immunity. The lab has developed an animal model of accelerated atherosclerosis in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Atherosclerosis has gained interest as a major cause of mortality in lupus patients and with all other risk factors being equal, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and obesity, the risk of coronary events in SLE patients is 50 times greater compared to non-SLE controls and 30% of deaths in SLE are atherosclerosis related. Future plans for this project are to determine which specific immune factor is most important for the modifications in atherosclerosis observed in the chimeric mice. Understanding how the presence of SLE exacerbates the atherosclerotic condition is essential to optimize risk reduction for coronary heart disease (CHD) while treating the SLE-associated inflammation. Ultimately, such studies will impact the development of immune-based therapy for the treatment of CHD and will increase the knowledge regarding accelerated atherogenesis in chronic autoimmunity such as SLE .

Selected Publications

• Major, AS, Joyce, S, Van Kaer, L. Lipid metabolism, atherogenesis and CD1-restricted antigen presentation. Trends Mol Med, 12(6), 270-8, 2006.

• Major, AS, Singh, RR, Joyce, S, Van Kaer, L. The role of invariant natural killer T cells in lupus and atherogenesis. Immunol Res, 34(1), 49-66, 2006.

• Stanic, AK, Stein, CM, Morgan, AC, Fazio, S, Linton, MF, Wakeland, EK, Olsen, NJ, Major, AS. Immune dysregulation accelerates atherosclerosis and modulates plaque composition in systemic lupus erythematosus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 103(18), 7018-23, 2006.

• Linton, MacRae F, Major, Amy S, Fazio, Sergio. Proatherogenic role for NK cells revealed. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, 24(6), 992-4, 2004.

• Major, Amy S, Fazio, Sergio, Linton, MacRae F. B-lymphocyte deficiency increases atherosclerosis in LDL receptor-null mice. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, 22(11), 1892-8, 2002.