Karen Cerosaletti, PhD
Background Information
Dr. Cerosaletti received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. She worked in infectious disease research before obtaining her PhD in Immunology from the University of Rochester in 1990. After post-doctoral work in somatic cell genetics in the Molecular Medicine Program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, she joined Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) in 1995. She is currently Director of the Center for Translational Research, Manager of the Genotyping Core and a Research Associate Member at BRI.
Area of Research
Dr. Cerosaletti’s research is focused on the molecular genetics of autoimmune disorders. She directs the Genotyping Core Laboratory at BRI, which tests repository samples for specific genetic variants that have been associated with susceptibility to autoimmunity. Genetic analyses are coupled with cellular studies to establish functional links between sequence variants in specific genes and alterations in the function of these genes in the immune system. Current work is focused on the impact of genetic variants in the PTPN22, PTPN2, IL2RA, BANK1, IL6R, TYK2, IFIH1 and SH2B3 genes in several autoimmune disorders, as well as genetic variants associated with food allergy. The lab is also analyzing the phenotype and T cell receptor repertoire in islet reactive CD4 T cells from patients with type 1 diabetes using single cell RNAseq to identify islet T cell ‘signatures’ that may be useful biomarkers for disease initiation, progression and response to therapy.
Featured Publications
Long SA, Cerosaletti K, Bollyky PL, Tatum M, Shilling H, Zhang S, Zhang ZY, Pihoker C, Sanda S, Greenbaum C, Buckner JH. Defects in IL-2R signaling contribute to diminished maintenance of FOXP3 expression in CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T-cells of type 1 diabetic subjects. Diabetes. 2010 Feb;59(2):407-15. PubMed PMID: 19875613, PMCID: PMC2809970.
Long SA, Cerosaletti K, Wan JY, Ho JC, Tatum M, Wei S, Shilling HG, Buckner JH. An autoimmune-associated variant in PTPN2 reveals an impairment of IL-2R signaling in CD4(+) T cells. Genes Immun. 2011 Mar;12(2):116-25. PubMed PMID: 21179116, PMCID: PMC3058680.
Robins H, Desmarais C, Matthis J, Livingston R, Andriesen J, Reijonen H, Carlson C, Nepom G, Yee C, Cerosaletti K. Ultra-sensitive detection of rare T cell clones. J Immunol Methods. 2012 Jan 31;375(1-2):14-9. PubMed PMID: 21945395. PMCID: PMC3721519.
Schneider A, Long SA, Cerosaletti K, Ni CT, Samuels P, Kita M, Buckner JH. In active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, effector T cell resistance involves IL-6 mediated signaling. Sci Transl Med. 2013 Jan 30;5(170):170ra15. PMID: 23363979.
Estorninho M, Gibson VB, Kronenberg-Versteeg D, Liu YF, Ni C, Cerosaletti K, Peakman M. A novel approach to tracking antigen-experienced CD4 T cells into functional compartments via tandem deep and shallow TCR clonotyping. J Immunol. 2013 Dec 1;191(11):5430-40. PMID: 24163407.
Cerosaletti K, Schneider A, Schwedhelm K, Frank I, Tatum M, Wei S, Whalen E, Greenbaum C, Kita M, Buckner J, Long SA. Multiple Autoimmune-Associated Variants Confer Decreased IL-2R Signaling in CD4(+)CD25(hi) T Cells of Type 1 Diabetic and Multiple Sclerosis Patients. PLoS One. 2013 Dec 23;8(12):e83811. PMID: 24376757. PMCID: PMC3871703.
Hundhausen C, Roth A, Whalen E, Chen J, Schneider A, Long SA, Wei S, Rawlings R, Kinsman M, Evanko SP, Wight TN, Greenbaum CJ, Cerosaletti K, Buckner JH. Enhanced T cell responses to IL-6 in type 1 diabetes are associated with early clinical disease and increased IL-6 receptor expression. Sci Transl Med. 2016 Sep 14;8(356):356ra119. PMID: 27629486. PMCID: PMC5125295.
Dam EM, Habib T, Chen J, Funk A, Glukhova V, Davis-Pickett M, Wei S, James R, Buckner JH, Cerosaletti K. The BANK1 SLE-risk variants are associated with alterations in peripheral B cell signaling and development in humans. Clin Immunol. 2016 Dec;173:171-180. PMID: 27816669. PMCID: PMC5148640.
Cerosaletti K, Barahmand-Pour-Whitman F, Yang J, DeBerg HA, Dufort MJ, Murray SA, Israelsson E, Speake C, Gersuk VH, Eddy JA, Reijonen H, Greenbaum CJ, Kwok WW, Wambre E, Prlic M, Gottardo R, Nepom GT, Linsley PS. Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals Expanded Clones of Islet Antigen-Reactive CD4+ T Cells in Peripheral Blood of Subjects with Type 1 Diabetes. J Immunol. 2017 Jul1; 199(1):323-335. PMID: 28566371.
Gorman JA, Hundhausen C, Errett JS, Stone AE, Allenspach EJ, Ge Y, Arkatkar T, Clough C, Dai X, Khim S, Pestal K, Liggitt D, Cerosaletti K, Stetson DB, James RG, Oukka M, Concannon P, Gale M Jr, Buckner JH, Rawlings DJ. The A946T variant of the RNA sensor IFIH1 mediates an interferon program that limits viral infection but increases the risk for autoimmunity. Nat Immunol. 2017 Jul; 18(7):744-752. PMID: 28553952. PMCID: PMC5697900.