Todd A. Reinhart, ScD

Todd A. Reinhart, ScD

Contact

Office: 606 Parran Hall

Lab: 710 Parran Hall

Ph: 412-648-2341

Fax: 412-624-4873

reinhar@pitt.edu

Website »

Education

  • BS - Hamline University

Academic Affiliation

  • Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology

About Research

How HIV-1 causes AIDS remains incompletely understood. We are examining the contributions of the host response during infection to better understand the changes occurring in tissues, which should in turn help to develop strategies to reverse or overcome those changes associated with pathogenesis. Chemokines are small cytokines that recruit cells with the appropriate receptors into local environments, and they play multiple roles in the pathogenesis of HIV-1 and its nonhuman primate counterpart, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). Our efforts are heavily focused on understanding chemokines and their contributions to infectious diseases. Through gene expression profiling and histologic approaches, we are defining the effects of SIV on the networks of chemokines in lymphoid tissues, where much of the virus in the body is replicating. We are finding that those chemokines that change in expression are intimately involved in shaping local immune environments that can be advantageous to the virus. Similarly, we are contributing to a large collaborative effort to determine how chemokines contribute to tumor-specific T cells trafficking and treatment of cancers.

The lymphatics drain extracellular fluids and cells from peripheral tissues to lymph nodes and then ultimately into the blood stream. One focus we have is on the role that lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) might play in inflammatory responses to infections, including those by HIV-1/SIV. Our studies to date indicate that there are multiple types of LECs in peripheral tissues and lymph nodes and they are exquisitely poised to sense and respond to pathogens. We are exploring whether LECs could be playing roles in HIV/SIV pathogenesis and transmission.

Selected Publications

Qin, S, BA Fallert Junecko, AM Trichel, PM Tarwater, MA Murphey-Corb, DE Kirschner, and TA Reinhart.  (2010)  Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Alters Chemokine Networks in Lung Tissues of Cynomolgus Macaques: Association with Pneumocystis carinii infection.  American Journal of Pathology 177(3):1274-85.

Muthuswamy, R, J Mueller-Berghaus, W Mier, U Haberkorn, TA Reinhart, D Schadendorf, and P Kalinski.  (2010)  PGE2 Transiently Enhances DC Expression of CCR7 but Inhibits the Ability of DCs to Produce CCL19 and Attract Naïve T cells.  Blood 116(9):1454-9.

Okada, H, P Kalinski, R Ueda, A Hoji, G Kohanbash, TE Donegan, AH Mintz, JA Engh, DL Bartlett, CK Brown, H Zeh, MP Holtzman, TA Reinhart, TL Whiteside, LH Butterfield, RL Hamilton, D Potter, IF Pollack, AM Salazar, and FS Lieberman.  (2011) Induction of CD8+ T cell Responses against Novel Glioma-Associated Antigen Peptides and Clinical Activity by Vaccinations with -Type-1-Polarized Dendritic Cells and Poly-ICLC in Patients with Recurrent Malignant Glioma.  Journal of Clinical Oncology 29:330-36.

Qin, S, JF Alcorn, JK Craigo, C Tjoeng, Patrick M Tarwater  JK Kolls, and TA Reinhart.  (2011)  Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Reduces Airway Inflammation in Mice through Binding to Proinflammatory Chemokines and Inhibiting Inflammatory Cell Recruitment.  Journal of Immunology 186(6):3693-700.

Fei, M, S Bhatia, TB Oriss, M Yarlagadda, A Khare, S Akira, S Saijo, Y Iwakura, BA Fallert-Junecko, TA Reinhart, O Foreman, P Ray, JK Kolls, A Ray.  (2011)  TNF-α From Inflammatory DCs Regulates IL-17A Levels Which Together Determines Neutrophilic Lung Inflammation During Persistent Fungal Infection.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 108(13):5360-5.

Khader, SA, L Guglani, J Rangel-Moreno, R Gopal, BA Fallert Junecko, JJ Fountain, C Martino, JE Pearl, M Tighe, YY Lin, S Slight, JK Kolls, TA Reinhart, TD Randall, and AM Cooper.  (2011)  IL-23 is required for long-term control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and B cell follicle formation in the infected lung.  Journal of Immunology 187(10):5402-7.

View Complete Publications Listing

Research Interests

  • Role of chemokines in the pathogenesis of HIV-1 and SIV; basic biology and inhibition of chemokines; roles played by lymphatic endothelial cells in infectious diseases and vaccines; vaccines for HIV-1, influenza, and cancer.