Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9899
ISSN: 2155-9899
Michael C Levin
Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
Working as an Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
His laboratory studies the relationship between viruses and immune-associated diseases of the human central nervous system, particularly multiple sclerosis (MS). Specifically, they study how patients infected with HTLV-1 (human T - lymphotropic virus type I) develop HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), a demyelinating disease with similarities to MS. Current experiments focus on two major areas. First, identifying a novel auto-antibody response in HAM/TSP patients that may identify a human protein with similarities to viral proteins, an area of study known as molecular mimicry. Second, experiments are designed to identify abnormal expression of RNA using single cell analysis of abnormal areas of brain from MS and HAM/TSP patients. By identifying what cells produce in the central nervous system they hope to develop novel therapeutic strategies to help treat patients with these diseases.
HTLV-1, identify abnormal expression of RNA, Immunology, Oncology, Antibodies