Erik Wambre, PhD
Background Information
Dr. Wambre was born and raised in France. He received his MS degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Lille in 2003 and his Master of Business Engineering (MBE) from the Ecole de Biologie Industrielle (Cergy) in 2004. He attended the University Pierre & Marie Curie (Paris 6) in 2008, receiving his PhD in Immunology. After his background in Europe, Dr. Wambre joined the Benaroya Research Institute in 2009 to complete a postdoctoral fellowship and subsequently became an Assistant Member.
Area of Research
The projects in Dr. Wambre’s laboratory are focused on providing in depth immune monitoring of antigen-specific T cell responses in allergy and cancer vaccine development. The primary objectives are to enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis, regulation and functions of the adaptive immune system in disease pathways. Further questions relate to the correlation between clinical responses and immunological changes in the course of immunotherapy. Translational and clinical applications include identification of biomarkers of clinical interest, and development of new vaccination strategies.
Figure: Blood samples are collected from patients and processed to allow detection of whole allergen-specific Th2 cells (Th2A subset), based on an allergic disease-related phenotype shared among these cells (CRTH2+ CD161+ CD27-). Enumeration of Th2A cells can then be applied as a clinically useful biomarker in allergy, while these cells can be purified for more molecular profiling and analysis in cell culture.
Featured Publications
Calise J, Garabatos N, Bajzik V, Farrington M, Robinson D, Jeong D, Londei M, Wambre E. Optimal human pathogenic TH2 cell effector function requires local epithelial cytokine signaling. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 Mar 1:S0091-6749(21)00282-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2021.02.019. PMID: 33662368
Wambre E. The Use of pMHCII Tetramer Technology for the Identification and Characterization of CD4+ T Cells. Methods Mol Biol. 2019 (June) ;2020:153-164. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9591-2_11. PMID: 31177498
Menard LC, Fischer P, Kakrecha B, Linsley PS, Wambre E, Liu MC, Rust BJ, Lee D, Penhallow B, Manjarrez Orduno N, Nadler SG. Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) Tumors Display Large Expansion of Double Positive (DP) CD4+CD8+ T Cells With Expression of Exhaustion Markers. Front Immunol. 2018 Nov 26;9:2728. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.02728. PMID: 30534127 | PMC6275222
Renand A, Farrington M, Whalen E, Wambre E, Bajzik V, Chinthrajah S, Nadeau KC, Kwok WW. Heterogeneity of Ara h Component-Specific CD4 T Cell Responses in Peanut-Allergic Subjects. Front Immunol. 2018 Jun 25;9:1408. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.01408. eCollection 2018. PMID: 29988522 | PMC6026622
Kulis MD, Patil SU, Wambre E, Vickery BP. Immune mechanisms of oral immunotherapy. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2018 Feb;141(2):491-498. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2017.12.979. Epub 2017 Dec 26. PMID: 29288078
Wambre E, Jeong D. Oral Tolerance Development and Maintenance. Immunol Allergy Clin North Am. 2018 Feb;38(1):27-37. doi: 10.1016/j.iac.2017.09.003. Epub 2017 Oct 26. Review. PMID: 29132672 | PMC5776674
Renand A, Shamji MH, Harris KM, Qin T, Wambre E, Scadding GW, Wurtzen PA, Till SJ, Togias A, Nepom GT, Kwok WW, Durham SR. Synchronous immune alterations mirror clinical response during allergen immunotherapy. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2018 May;141(5):1750-1760.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2017.09.041. Epub 2017 Nov 9. PMID: 29128670 | PMC5938141