Laphalle Fuller, Ph.D.

Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Room 3071, Rosenstiel Medical Sciences Building
1600 NW 10th Avenue
Telephone: 305-243-5568
Fax: 305-243-4623
Email: lfuller@med.miami.edu

Research Interests:

End stage kidney, liver, pancreas, and heart organ failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Organ transplantation is often the only viable alternative to most patients with end stage organ failure. Survival of clinical solid organ transplants has increased remarkably in the FK506 cyclosporin era, however, the long-term survival has not changed to the same degree. The primary cause of graft failure is rejection. Therefore, an understanding of the immunological mechanism involved may lead to prevention and treatment of allograft rejection. This research is directed toward understanding and manipulating immunoregulatory mechanisms essential for acceptance of organ transplants. Historically, studies have focused on organ specific antigens and cytokine roles in the induction of the allograft reaction in human and dog models. Current studies are directed toward the role of donor bone marrow cells on recipient chimerism and graft adaptation.

Selected Publications:

Fuller, L., Zucker, K. Asthana, D., Zhen, S., Carreno, M., Esquenazi, V., and Miller, J. (1997) The role of canine IFN-gamma in graft rejection evaluated in the canine tranplant model. In: Cytokines in Veterinary Medicine. V.E.C.J. Schijns and M.C. Horzinek (eds.) CAB International, The Netherlands, 1997.

Jin, Y., Fuller, L., Carreno, M., Esquenazi, V., Tzakis, A.G., and Miller, J. (1998) The regulation of phenotype and function of human liver CD3+/CD56+ lymphocytes, and cells that also co-express CD8 by IL-2, IL-12 and anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. Human Immunol. 59(6):352-362.

Mathew, J.M., Fuller, L., Ricordi, C., Kenyon, N., Tzakis, A.G., Miller, J., and Esquenazi, V. (1999) In vitro immunogenicity of cadaver donor bone marrow cells used for the induction of allograft acceptance in clinical transplantation. Transplantation 68(8):1172-1180.

Jin, Y., Fuller, L., Esquenazi, V., Blomberg, B., Rosen, A., Tzakis, A.G., Ricordi, C., and Miller, J. (2000) Bone marrow cells inhibit the generation of autologous EBV-specific CTL. Human Immunol., in press.

Mathew, J.M., Fuller, L., Carreno, M., Garcia-Morales, R., Ricordi, C., Esquenazi, V., Tzakis, A.G., and Miller, J. (2000). Involvement of multiple subpopulations of human bone marrow cells in the regulation of allogeneic cellular immune responses. Transplantation, in press.