Assistant Professor

Lewis Hall, #3180
Office: (757) 446-5019
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Teaching: Small Groups

Biomedical Sciences Program Track: Molecular Integrative Biosciences (MIB)

Education

• B.S., M.S. - St. Petersburg State Technological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
• Ph.D. - Institute for Experimental Medicine, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
• Postdoctoral Training - National Institute for Medical Research, MRC, London, UK
• Postdoctoral Training - University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Research

Our laboratory is interested in the involvement of the immune system in the development and progression of atherosclerosis. This is a disease of large vessels that is characterized by a formation of atherosclerotic plaques consisting of necrotic core, calcified regions, accumulated modified lipids, inflamed smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, leukocytes and foam cells.

Atherosclerosis is the most common pathological process that leads to cardiovascular diseases. In the past decade, a growing body of data shows that B and T cells, macrophages, NKT cells and dendritic cells participate in the development of atherosclerosis. This strongly suggests that the innate and adaptive immune systems are deeply involved in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. However, the exact mechanisms of the recruitment, activation, proliferation and retention of different types of immune cells within the aortic wall remain unclear.

Our research focuses on the identification of the immune cell composition of the aortic wall under normal/non-inflamed conditions and during atherosclerosis, and the mechanisms of migration and retention of lymphocytes within the aortas. Recently we showed that L-selectin is at least partially responsible for the recruitment of lymphocytes into the aortic wall. We also demonstrated that the chemokine receptor CXCR6 regulates the homing of T cell subset into the atherosclerosis-prone aortic wall.

Our laboratory is also interested in the mechanisms that lead to the formation of lymphoid-like structures within the aortas and local immune response during the development and progression of atherosclerosis. Understanding of immune reactions that participate in atherosclerosis and functions of aortic tertiary lymphoid structures will help to design new approaches towards the prevention and treatment of this disease.

In addition to our work on the immune response during atherosclerosis, our laboratory has also become involved in the studies devoted understanding of mechanisms of diabetes-accelerated atherosclerosis. Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are associated with accelerated atherosclerosis in patients, but the availability of mouse models to study connections between these two diseases has been limited. We develop a mouse model of insulin-signaling dependent accelerated atherosclerosis, and clearly demonstrated that the pre-diabetic state already accelerates the development of atherosclerosis. It will be important to further investigate roles of hyperinsulinemia and hyperlipidemia in atherosclerosis and dissect a role of the immune system, particularly T and B cells, in this model.

Selected Publications

• Galkina E and Ley K. (2009) Immune and inflammatory mechanisms of atherosclerosis. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 27:165-97.
• Kadl A., Galkina E. and Leitinger N (2009) Oxidized Phospholipids Induce CCR2-dependent Macrophage Accumulation in the Air-Pouch Model of Inflammation. Arthritis Rheum.
• Galkina, E., Harry, B., Ludwig, A., Liehn, E., Weber, C. and Ley, K. (2007) CXCR6 promotes atherosclerosis by supporting T cell homing, interferon gamma production and macrophage accumulation in the aortic wall. Circulation. Oct 16;116(16):1801-11.
• Galkina E., Ley K. (2007) Vascular Adhesion Molecules in Atherosclerosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. Nov;27(11):2292-301.
• Gleissner C.A., Galkina E., Nadler J. and Ley K. (2007) Mechanisms by which diabetes increases cardiovascular disease. Drug Discov Today Dis Mech., 4(3): 131–140.

• Galkina, E. and Ley, K. (2007) Leukocyte influx in atherosclerosis. Curr Drug Targets. Dec;8(12):1239-48.

• Galkina, E., Florey, O., Zarbock, A., Smith, B., Preece, P., Lawrence, M.B., Haskard, D.O.and Ager, A. (2007) T lymphocyte rolling and recruitment into peripheral lymph nodes is regulated by a saturable density of L-selectin (CD62L). Eur J Immunol. May;37(5):1243-53.
• Galkina, E., Ley, K. (2006) Double jeopardy: how soluble P-selectin activates leukocytes in peripheral arterial occlusive disease. Circ Res. 98(1):12-4.
• Galkina, E., Kadl, A., Sanders, J., Varughese, D., Sarembock, I. and Ley, K. (2006) Constitutive lymphocyte recruitment into the aortic wall prior to development of atherosclerosis is partially L-selectin-dependent. J. Exp. Med. May 15;203(5):1273-82.
• Galkina, E., Ley, K. (2006) Leukocyte Recruitment and Vascular Injury in Diabetic Nephropathy. J Am Soc Nephrol. 17:368-377.
• Galkina, E., Thatte, J., Dabak, V., Williams, M., Ley, K., Braciale, T. (2005) Preferential migration of effector CD8+ T cells into the interstitium of the normal lung. J Clin Invest. Dec;115(12):3473-83.
• Reutershan, J., Basit, A., Galkina, E.V., Ley, K. (2005)  Sequential recruitment of neutrophils into lung and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in LPS-induced acute lung injury. Am.  J. Physiol. Lung Cell Mol. Physiol. Nov;289:807-815.
• Smith, D.F., Galkina, E.V., Ley, K., Huo, Y. (2005) GRO Family Chemokines are Specialized for Monocyte Arrest from Flow. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol.  Nov;289:1976-1984.
• Smith, M.L., Sperandio, M. Galkina, E.V., Ley, K. (2004) Autoperfused mouse flow chamber reveals synergistic neutrophil accumulation though P-selectin and E-selectin. J. Leukoc. Biol. Nov;76(5):985-93.
• Galkina E.V., Tanousis, K., Preece, G., Tolaini, M., Kioussis, D., Florey, O., Haskard, D.O., Tedder, T.F., Ager, A. (2003)  L-selectin Shedding Does Not Regulate Constitutive T Cell Trafficking but Controls the Migration Pathways of Antigen-activated T Lymphocytes. J. Exp. Med. Nov 3; 198(9):1323-35.
• Galkina, E.V., Nazarov, P.G., Polevschikov, A.V., Berestovaya, L.K., Galkin, V.E., Bychkova N.V. (2000) Interactions of C-Reactive Protein and Serum Amyloid P Component with Interleukin-8 and Their Role in Regulation of Neutrophil Functions. Russ J Immunol.  Dec; 5(4):363-374.

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