Ehrlich Lab

About The Ehrlich Lab

The Ehrlich Lab's major research goals are to identify the cellular and molecular interactions between developing T cells and the surrounding thymic stromal cells that govern generation of a diverse, non-autoreactive, and non-malignant T cell pool throughout the lifespan. 

The lab is currently focused on:

• Identifying cellular and molecular mechanisms, such as chemokine-driven chemotaxis, that contribute to T cell self-tolerance by promoting thymocyte medullary entry and/or interactions with antigen presenting cells.
• Determining how age-associated changes in the thymus throughout the lifespan impact thymic stromal cellularity and function, thymocyte development, and the establishment of central tolerance.
• Identifying molecular mediators of interactions between T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells and the surrounding tumor microenvironment that promote leukemia growth.
• Identifying variation in immune responses in COVID-19 patients across the lifespan (pediatric to geriatric) that correlate with differential disease severity.
• Determining if SARS-CoV-2 infections predispose patients to autoimmunity.
   

2023 Research

• Lyu A, Humphrey RS, Nam SH, Durham TA, Hu Z, Arasappan D, Horton TM, Ehrlich LIR. Integrin signaling is critical for myeloid-mediated support of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nat Commun. 2023 Oct 7;14(1):6270. PMID: 37805579; PMCID: PMC10560206.
• Li Y, Guaman Tipan P, Selden HJ, Srinivasan J, Hale LP, Ehrlich LIR. CCR4 and CCR7 differentially regulate thymocyte localization with distinct outcomes for central tolerance. Elife. 2023 Jun 2;12:e80443. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37266571.
• Srinivasan J, Vasudev A, Shasha C, Selden HJ, Perez E Jr, LaFleur B, Sinari SA, Krueger A, Richie ER, Ehrlich LIR. The initial age-associated decline in early T-cell progenitors reflects fewer pre-thymic progenitors and altered signals in the bone marrow and thymus microenvironments. Aging Cell. 2023 May 23. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37221658.

2022 Research

• Bazzi SA, Maguire C, Holay N, Geltman J, Hurley K, DiPasquale C, Abigania M, Olson E, Ehrlich LIR, Triplett TA, Melamed E. Longitudinal COVID-19 immune trajectories in patients with neurological autoimmunity on anti-CD20 therapy. Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2022 Sep 26;68:104195. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36223705; PMCID: PMC9511881.

• Ozonoff A, Schaenman J, Jayavelu ND, Milliren CE, Calfee CS, Cairns CB, Kraft M, Baden LR, Shaw AC, Krammer F, van Bakel H, Esserman DA, Liu S, Sesma AF, Simon V, Hafler DA, Montgomery RR, Kleinstein SH, Levy O, Bime C, Haddad EK, Erle DJ, Pulendran B, Nadeau KC, Davis MM, Hough CL, Messer WB, Higuita NIA, Metcalf JP, Atkinson MA, Brakenridge SC, Corry D, Kheradmand F, Ehrlich LIR, Melamed E, McComsey GA, Sekaly R, Diray-Arce J, Peters B, Augustine AD, Reed EF, Altman MC, Becker PM, Rouphael N; IMPACC study group members. Phenotypes of disease severity in a cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients: Results from the IMPACC study. EBioMedicine. 2022 Sep;83:104208.  Epub 2022 Aug 8. PMID: 35952496; PMCID: PMC9359694.

• Lancaster JN, Keatinge-Clay DE, Srinivasan J, Li Y, Selden HJ, Nam S, Richie ER, Ehrlich LIR. Central tolerance is impaired in the middle-aged thymic environment. Aging Cell. 2022 Jun;21(6):e13624. Epub 2022 May 13. PMID: 35561351; PMCID: PMC9197411.

• J Srinivasan, A Vasudev, HJ Selden, E Perez, BJ LaFleur, SA Sinari, ... LIR Ehrlich. An early decline in ETPs reflects reduced pre-thymic progenitors and altered signals from the thymus microenvironment. bioRxiv. January 1, 2022.

• JN Lancaster, DL Keatinge-Clay, J Srinivasan, Y Li, HJ Selden, S Nam, ...LIR Ehrlich. Central tolerance is impaired in the middle-aged thymic environment. bioRxiv. January 1, 2022.

• A Lyu, SH Nam, RS Humphrey, TA Durham, Z Hu, D Arasappan, ...LIR Ehrlich. Integrin signaling is critical for myeloid-mediated support of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. bioRxiv. January 1, 2022.

• Y Li, J Srinivasan, HJ Selden, LIR Ehrlich. CCR4 and CCR7 differentially regulate thymocyte subset localization with distinct outcomes for central tolerance. bioRxiv. January 1, 2022. 

2021 Research:

• MPACC Manuscript Writing Team; IMPACC Network Steering Committee. N Rouphael, H Maecker, RR Montgomery, J Diray-Arce, SH Kleinstein, MC Altman, SE Bosinger, W Eckalbar, L Guan, CL Hough, F Krammer, C Langelier, O Levy, K McEnaney, B Peters, A Rahman, JV Rajan, S Sigelman, H Steen, H van Bakel, A Ward, MR Wilson, P Woodruff, CR Zamecnik, AD Augustine, A Ozonoff, EF Reed, PM Becker, N Agudelo Higuita, MC Altman, MA Atkinson, LR Baden, PM Becker, C Bime, SC Brakenridge, CS Calfee, CB Cairns, D Corry, MM Davis, AD Augustine, LIR Ehrlich, EK Haddad, DJ Erle, A Fernandez-Sesma, DA Hafler, CL Hough, F Kheradmand, SH Kleinstein, M Kraft, O Levy, GA McComsey, E Melamed, W Messer, J Metcalf, RR Montgomery, KC Nadeau, A Ozonoff, B Peters, B Pulendran, EF Reed, N Rouphael, M Sarwal, J Schaenman, R Sekaly, AC Shaw, V Simon. (2021). Immunophenotyping assessment in a COVID-19 cohort (IMPACC): A prospective longitudinal study. Sci Immunol. 6(62). doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abf3733. PubMed PMID: 34376480. August 10, 2021.

• Y Li, JN Lancaster, S Nam, H Seo, LIR Ehrlich. CCR4 and CCR7 differentially regulate thymocyte subset localization with distinct outcomes for central tolerance. J Immunol,  206 (1 Supplement) 108.07. May 1, 2021

• J Srinivasan, JN Lancaster, N Singarapu, LP Hale, LIR Ehrlich, ER Richie. Age-Related Changes in Thymic Central Tolerance. Front Immunol. 12:676236. April 22, 2021.

• SC Wei, WC Meijers, ML Axelrod, N-AAS Anang, EM Screever, EC Wescott, DB Johnson, E Whitley, L Lehmann, P-Y Courand, JJ Mancuso, LE Himmel, B Lebrun-Vignes, MJ Wleklinski, BC Knollmann, J Srinivasan, Y Li, OT Atolagbe, X Rao, Y Zhao, J Wang, LIR Ehrlich, P Sharma, J-E Salem, JM Balko, JJ Moslehi, JP Allison. A Genetic Mouse Model Recapitulates Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Associated Myocarditis and Supports a Mechanism-Based Therapeutic Intervention. . Cancer Discov. 11(3):614–25. PMCID: PMC8041233. March 2, 2021.

2020 Research

• A Lyu, TA Triplett, SH Nam, Z Hu, D Arasappan, WH Godfrey, RY Ames, A Sarang, HJ Selden, C-H Lee, G Georgiou, TM Horton, LIR Ehrlich. (2020) Tumor-associated myeloid cells provide critical support for T-ALL. Blood. 136(16):1837-50. October 15, 2020.

• AS Warden, TA Triplett, A Lyu, EK Grantham, MM Azzam, A DaCosta, S Mason, YA Blednov, LIR Ehrlich, DR Mayfield, and RA Harris. (2020) Microglia depletion and alcohol: Transcriptome and behavioral profiles. Addiction Biology. 29(4):e12889. March 16, 2020.