Infection in Airway Disease

Professor Sebastian Johnston, Head of Group

Eppendorfs Sebastian Johnston's group works on mechanisms of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and the role of respiratory viral infections in these diseases, with a particular interest in acute exacerbations and the role of rhinovirus infections.

The group carries out epidemiological investigations of the importance of environmental factors in development of these diseases and the role of viral and atypical bacterial infections in the development of and in precipitating acute exacerbations of these diseases. Cellular and molecular studies investigate the basic pathogenic mechanisms of the diseases and the role of viral and atypical bacteria in exacerbations with a major focus being the identification of targets for the development of new treatments for treatment and prevention of exacerbations.

Lab Members Clinical studies include human and mouse experimental models of acute exacerbations of asthma and COPD precipitated by rhinoviruses and other viruses and clinical trials of new therapeutic agents for exacerbations of asthma and COPD and for viral infections.

The group are major contributors to the missions of both the MRC & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma (http://www.asthma-allergy.ac.uk/), and the Wellcome Trust funded Centre for Respiratory Infection (http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/cri).

Selected publications

Bisgaard H, Hermansen MN, Bønnelykke K, Stokholm J, Baty F, Skytt NL, Aniscenko J, Kebadze T, Johnston SL. Association of bacteria and viruses with wheezy episodes in young children: prospective birth cohort study. BMJ. 2010 Oct 4;341:c4978.

Mallia P, Message SD, Gielen V, Contoli M, Gray K, Kebadze T, Aniscenko J, Laza-Stanca V, Edwards MR, Slater L, Papi A, Stanciu LA, Kon OM, Johnson M, Johnston SL. Experimental rhinovirus infection as a human model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010 Oct 1.

Message SD; Laza-Stanca V; Mallia P; Parker HL; Zhu J; Kebadze T; Contoli M; Sanderson G; et al. (9 Sep 2008). Rhinovirus-induced lower respiratory illness is increased in asthma and related to virus load and Th1/2 cytokine and IL-10 production. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 105:13562-13567.

Bartlett NW; Walton RP; Edwards MR; Aniscenko J; Caramori G; Zhu J; Glanville N; Choy KJ; et al. (Feb 2008). Mouse models of rhinovirus-induced disease and exacerbation of allergic airway inflammation. Nat Med. 14:199-204.

Contoli M; Message SD; Laza-Stanca V; Edwards MR; Wark PA; Bartlett NW; Kebadze T; Mallia P; et al. (Sep 2006). Role of deficient type III interferon-lambda production in asthma exacerbations. Nat Med. 12:1023-1026.

Johnston SL; Blasi F; Black PN; Martin RJ; Farrell DJ; Nieman RB; TELICAST Investigators. (13 Apr 2006). The effect of telithromycin in acute exacerbations of asthma. N Engl J Med. 354:1589-1600.