Evolution of immune surveillance and heat shock proteins (hsps): We have proposed that certain hsps (hsp70, gp96) are part of an ancestral pathway of immune surveillance antecedent to the antigen presentation pathway that uses MHC molecules. We have shown that the capacity of gp96 and hsp70 to chaperone antigenic peptides, to elicit potent specific cellular adaptive immune responses and to interact with antigen-presenting cells, has been phylogenetically conserved. We are now focusing our attention on the more complex immunomodulatory role of these hsps that involve NK, MHC-unrestricted CD8 T and/or NK/T cells. We are also intrigued by the fact that gp96 is expressed on the cell surface of a subset of Xenopus B-cells and are exploring both the pathway leading to this surface expression and its importance in antigen presentation.

Psychoneuroimmunology: Involvement of the sympathetic nervous system, glucocorticoids, opioids, and T-helper cell subset-derived cytokines in the stress-associated modulation of immunity to pathogens is being investigated in normal and in immunocompromised mice.

A more detailed description of this laboratory and its research is available.

Peer-Reviewed Papers

Morales H, Muharemagic A, Gantress J, Cohen N, Robert J. Bacterial stimulation upregulates the surface expression of the stress protein gp96 on B cells in the frog Xenopus. Cell Stress Chaperones. 8:265-71, 2003.

Robert J, Gantress J, Cohen N, Maniero GD. Xenopus as an experimental model for studying evolution of hsp--immune system interactions. Methods. 32:42-53, 2004.

Robert J, Cohen N, Maniero GD, Goyos A, Morales H, Gantress J. Evolution of the immunomodulatory role of the heat shock protein gp96. Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 49:263-75, 2003. Review.

Gantress J, Maniero G, Cohen N, Robert J. Development and characterization of a model system to study amphibian immune responses to iridoviruses. Virology 311:254-262, 2003

Rau L, Gantress J, Bell A, Stewart R, Horton T, Cohen N, Horton J, Robert J. Identification and characterization of Xenopus CD8+ T cells expressing an NK cell-associated molecule. Eur J Immunol. 32:1574-1583, 2002

Robert J, Gantress J, Rau L, Bell A, Cohen N. Minor Histocompatibility Antigen-Specific MHC-Restricted CD8 T Cell Responses Elicited by Heat Shock Proteins. J Immunol 168:1697-1703, 2002.

Robert J, Menoret A, Basu S, Cohen N, Srivastava PK. Phylogenetic conservation of the molecular and immunological properties of the chaperones gp96 and hsp70. Eur. J. Immunol. 31:186-195, 2001.

Robert J, Sung M, Cohen N. In vitro thymocyte differentiation in MHC class I-negative Xenopus larvae. Dev Comp Immunol., 25:323-336, 2001.

Madden KS, Boehm GW, Lee SC, Grota LJ, Cohen N, Ader R. One-trial conditioning of the antibody response to hen egg lysozyme in rats. J. Neuroimmunol. 113: 236-239, 2001.

Selected Reviews and Books

Rau L, Cohen N, Robert J. 2001. MHC restricted CD8 T-cells: A phylogenetic perspective. Transplantation 72:1830-1835.

Cohen N, Kinney KS. Exploring the evolutionary history of neural-immune system interactions. Psychoneuroimmunology 3rd edition. Eds. Ader R, Felten D, Cohen N. Academic Press, NY, 21-54, 2001.

Ader R, Cohen N. Conditioning and immunity: An update. In Psychoneuroimmunology, 3rd edition (eds. Ader R, Felten D, Cohen N), Academic Press, NY, 3-34, 2001.

Kopp W, Cohen N. Neuroimmune considerations in cardiovascular disease. In Psychoneuroimmunology, 3rd edition (eds. Ader R, Felten D, Cohen N), Academic Press, NY, 525-546, 2001.

Robert J, Cohen N. Evolution of immune surveillance and tumor immunity: studies in Xenopus. Immunol Rev 166:231-43, 1998.

Bloom DF, Karp JD, Cohen N. The Ph. D. Process: A Student's Guide to Graduate School in the Sciences Oxford University Press, New York, 1998.