Dietmar Zaiss

Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)131 651 XX
- Email: Dietmar.Zaiss@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
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Rm. 3.11, Ashworth building
- City
- Post code
Background
2021 - current Chair for Immune Cell Communication, University Hospital Regensburg / Institute of Immune Medicine, Regensburg, Germany
(www.uni-regensburg.de/medicine/immune-cell-communication )
2017 - current Reader in Immunology, University of Edinburgh / Institute of Immunology and Infection Research
2013 - 2017 Lecturer in Immunology and Chancellor's Fellow, University of Edinburgh / Institute of Immunology and Infection Research
2006 - 2013 Group Leader, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Immunology)
2002 - 2005 Post-Doc, University of Rochester, NY, USA- Dr. Tim Mosmann (Immunology)
1996 - 2000 Ph.D., Humboldt University, Berlin - Dr. P-M. Kloetzel (Cell Biology)
1993 - 1996 M.Sc. Syracuse University, NY, USA - Dr. John Belote (Cell and Molecular Biology)
Undergraduate teaching
Course Organizer “Clinical Immunology & Haematology” CI&H-3 (co-chaired together with Julia Dorin) for Third-Year / “Junior Honours” students. This course runs during the Spring semester
Participates in the courses
- “Molecules, Infection and Immunity” (MII-2) for Second-Year students, which runs during the Spring semester.
- “Immunology - 3” for Third-Year students, course runs during the Autumn semester.
- “Molecular Immunology” and “Immunobiology” for Forth-Year / “Immunology Honours” students, courses run during the Autumn semester.
- Master Course "Vaccines and Molecular Therapies", during the Spring semester
In addition, organises a weekly, department-internal “Immunology Refresher Training” for post-graduate students & supervises lab-based, scientific 10 weeks “Honours Projects”
Research summary
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3596-7062
The overarching aim of our research is to understand how local immune responses are orchestrated to maintain tissue homeostasis under inflammatory conditions. Specifically, we want to understand the crosstalk of tissue resident immune cells and the surrounding tissue and to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms by which pro- and anti-inflammatory stimuli determine the outcome of local immune responses. Deficiencies in local immune regulation often lead to inflammation-associated diseases, such as fibrotic diseases, atherosclerosis or arthritis, as well as to auto-immune diseases or allergies. Thus, a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that regulate local immune responses are of central importance in order to find more efficient ways of treating such diseases.
Our research has revealed that the immune system has adapted the evolutionary conserved signalling pathway of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR).
For instance, we found that the EGF-like growth factor Amphiregulin is a cytokine expressed by leukocytes, contributing to resistance to helminth infection. (Zaiss et al. Science 2006). Recently, we then revealed that Amphiregulin is achieving this by enabling the formation of hetero-complexes / signalling clusters between the EGFR and IL-33R on the surface of Th2 cells. These hetero-complex/clusters enable Th2-cells to express IL-13 upon exposure to IL-33. In this way, at the site of infection, Th2-cells contribute to worm expulsion in an antigen-independent way. (Minutti et al. Immunity 2017).
Furthermore, we discovered that a crosstalk between the EGFR and TGFβ controls local immune responses. Based on a “biased agonism” of the EGFR, the low-affinity EGFR ligand Amphiregulin induces the local activation of TGFβ (Minutti et al., Immunity 2019). In this way, Amphiregulin enhances the suppressive capacity of regulatory T-cells, thereby critically contributing to the resolution of inflammation and tissue homeostasis. (Zaiss et al. Immunity 2013). TGFβ is expressed and stored in tissues in form of a latent complex. As a low-affinity EGFR ligand, Amphiregulin induces a tonic sustained signal which activates integrin-αV complexes on target cells and thus induces the local release of bio-active TGFβ. In this way, Amphiregulin contributes to local immune suppression and the differentiation of tissue residential stem cells, such as pericytes, and thus to tissue repair. (Minutti et al. Immunity 2019).
This rather unexpected concept of local immune regulation challenges and suggests the re-evaluation of several of our present perceptions with regard to inflammation, wound repair and tissue homeostasis; and, thus, also their implications for the development of tissue fibrosis, cancer and auto-immune diseases.
We are further exploring the fundamental implications of this novel avenue of research and apply our findings for the development of a sophisticated therapeutic research programme in order to translate this knowledge to the benefit of patients.
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Sugar addiction: An Achilles’ heel of auto-immune diseases?
(3 pages)
In:
Cell Metabolism, vol. 34, pp. 503-505
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2022.03.007
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Comment/debate (Published) -
Emerging role of egfr mutations in creating an immune suppressive tumour microenvironment
(11 pages)
In:
Biomedicines, vol. 10
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10010052
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Accepted/In press) -
Generation and characterization of novel co-stimulatory anti-mouse TNFR2 antibodies
In:
Journal of Immunological Methods, vol. 499
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jim.2021.113173
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
EGFR-HIF1α signaling positively regulates the differentiation of IL-9 producing T helper cells
(18 pages)
In:
Nature Communications
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23042-x
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Purification of murine immunoglobulin E (IgE) by thiophilic interaction chromatography (TIC)
In:
Journal of Immunological Methods
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jim.2020.112914
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Isotype selection for antibody-based cancer therapy
(15 pages)
In:
Clinical & Experimental Immunology, pp. 1-15
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cei.13545
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A novel efficient bispecific antibody format, combining a conventional antigen-binding fragment with a single domain antibody, avoids potential heavy-light chain mis-pairing
In:
Journal of Immunological Methods, vol. 483
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jim.2020.112811
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Local proliferation of monocytes
In:
Journal of Leukocyte Biology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/JLB.1CE0220-534RR
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Amphiregulin as a driver of tissue fibrosis
In:
American Journal of Transplantation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.15743
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Editorial (E-pub ahead of print) -
Isolation and culture of murine hepatic stellate cells
In:
Bio-protocol
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3422
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Nemo-like kinase drives Foxp3 stability and is critical for maintenance of immune tolerance by regulatory T cells
(20 pages)
In:
Cell Reports, vol. 26, pp. 3600-3612
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.02.087
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A macrophage-pericyte axis directs tissue restoration via amphiregulin-induced transforming growth factor beta activation
(16 pages)
In:
Immunity, vol. 50, pp. 645-654.e6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2019.01.008
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Immune and non-immune mediated roles of regulatory T-cells during wound healing
In:
Immunology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/imm.13057
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Loss of amphiregulin reduces myoepithelial cell coverage of mammary ducts and alters breast tumor growth
(14 pages)
In:
Breast Cancer Research, vol. 20, pp. 131
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-018-1057-0
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Amphiregulin-producing γδ T cells are vital for safeguarding oral barrier immune homeostasis
(6 pages)
In:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115, pp. 10738-10743
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1802320115
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Forkhead box transcription factors as context-dependent regulators of lymphocyte homeostasis
(13 pages)
In:
Nature Reviews Immunology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-018-0048-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Dissecting antigen processing and presentation routes in dermal vaccination strategies
(7 pages)
In:
Vaccine, vol. 35, pp. 7057-7063
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.10.044
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Epidermal growth factor receptor expression licenses type-2 helper T cells to function in a T cell receptor-independent fashion
(13 pages)
In:
Immunity, vol. 47, pp. 710-722
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2017.09.013
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The immune system’s contribution to the clinical efficacy of EGFR antagonist treatment
(7 pages)
In:
Frontiers in pharmacology, vol. 8, pp. 1-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00575
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Published) -
Local amplifiers of IL-4Rα–mediated macrophage activation promote repair in lung and liver
(5 pages)
In:
Science, vol. 356, pp. 1076 - 1080
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaj2067
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)