Leeansyah, Edwin

PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Other Affiliations:

Marie Skłodowska Curie International Career Grant Fellow and Assistant Professor,
Center for Infectious Medicine,
Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
Stockholm, Sweden

Email 1:

Edwin.Leeansyah@duke-nus.edu.sg

Email 2:

Edwin.Leeansyah@ki.se

Research Bio Container

Research

Research Interest:

The mucosa-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are a novel subset of antimicrobial T cells that are abundant in mucosal tissues, the liver, and circulation of healthy humans. MAIT cells recognise the recently discovered microbial vitamin B metabolites derived from a wide range of microbes, presented by the highly evolutionarily conserved MHC class I-like MR1 molecules. These innate-like T cells rapidly mediate broad and potent antimicrobial activity against a vast array of microbes through direct inhibition of microbial growth, killing of infected cells, and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, MAIT cells represent an arm of antimicrobial immunity that can recognise and respond to a principally novel and conserved type of antigenic structure.

The study of human MAIT cells is still in its infancy, and many aspects of MAIT cells immunobiology in health and disease remain unexplored. Our primary research interest is to understand their immunobiology in health and their roles during the course of infectious diseases. Our recent works showed that MAIT cells development and maturation in humans occurs prior to the establishment of the commensal microflora (Nat Commun 2014), and and that MAIT cells display functional heterogeneity depending on their anatomical origin (Mucosal Immunol 2017). We also demonstrated that MAIT cells were numerically and functionally lost during the course of chronic HIV-1 infection (Blood 2013, PLOS Pathogens 2015). In our present work, we seek to understand how MAIT cells recognise pathogenic bacteria from commensal microbiota, and their roles during the course of bacterial infections through a range of methodologies, including advanced multiparameter flow cytometry, mass spectrometry, and gene expression array.

Selected Publications:

J. Dias, E. Leeansyah, and J. K. Sandberg. Multiple layers of heterogeneity and subset diversity in human MAIT cell responses to distinct microorganisms, and to innate cytokines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. In Press.

J. Dias, J. K. Sandberg, and E. Leeansyah. Extensive phenotypic analysis, transcription factor profiling, and effector cytokine production of human MAIT cells by flow cytometry. 2017. Methods in Molecular Biology 1514:241-256. PMID: 27787804.

Gibbs*, E. Leeansyah*, A. Introini, D. Paquin-Proulx, K. Hasselrot, E. Andersson, K. Broliden, J. K. Sandberg, and A. Tjernlund. MAIT cells reside in the female genital mucosa and are biased towards IL-17 and IL-22 production in response to bacterial stimulation. 2017. Mucosal Immunology. 10(1):35-45. PMID: 27049062. * equal contributions.

J. Dias, M. J. Sobkowiak, J. K. Sandberg, and E. Leeansyah. Human MAIT cell responses to Escherichia coli: activation, cytokine production, proliferation, and cytotoxicity. 2016. Journal of Leukocyte Biology. Epub: 31 March 2016. PMID: 27034405.

E. Leeansyah*, J. Svärd, J. Dias, M. Buggert, J. Nyström, M. F. Quigley, M. Moll, A. Sönnerborg, P. Nowak, and J. K. Sandberg*. Arming of MAIT cell cytolytic antimicrobial activity is induced by IL-7 and defective in HIV-1 infection. 2015. PLOS Pathogens 11(8): e1005072. PMID: 26295709. *Co-corresponding authors.

E. Leeansyah, L. Loh, D. F. Nixon, and J. K. Sandberg. Acquisition of innate-like microbial reactivity in mucosal tissues during human fetal MAIT cells development. Nature Communications. 2014. 5:3143. PMID: 24452018.

J. K. Sandberg, J. Dias, B. L. Shacklett, and E. Leeansyah. Will loss of your MAITs weaken your HAART? AIDS. 2013. 27:2501-4. Erratum in: AIDS. 2014. 28:147. PMID: 23595154.

E. Leeansyah*, A. Ganesh, M. F. Quigley, A. Sönnerborg, J. Andersson, P. W. Hunt, M. Somsouk, S. G. Deeks, J. N. Martin, M. Moll, B. L. Shacklett, and J. K. Sandberg*. Activation, exhaustion and persistent decline of the anti-microbial MR1-restricted MAIT cell population in chronic HIV-1 infection. Blood. 2013. 121:1124-35. PMID: 23243281. * Co-corresponding authors.

E. Leeansyah, P. U. Cameron, A. Solomon, S. Tennakoon, P. Velayudham, M. Gouillou, T. Spelman, A. Hearps, C. Fairley, D. Smit, A. B. Pierce, J. Armishaw, S. M. Crowe, D. Cooper, K. K. Koelsch, J-P Liu, J. Chuah and S. R. Lewin. Inhibition of telomerase activity by HIV-1 nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitors: a potential factor contributing to HIV-associated accelerated ageing. Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2013. 207:1157-65. PMID: 23303810.

E. Leeansyah, B. D. Wines, S. M. Crowe, and A. Jaworowski. The mechanism underlying defective FcγR-mediated phagocytosis by HIV-1 infected human monocyte-derived macrophages. Journal of Immunology. 2007. 178: 1096-1104. PMID: 17202373.

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