David M. Markovitz, M.D.
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases

dmarkov@umich.edu

Our laboratory studies the interaction of retroviruses such as HIV with human cellular factors.  The goal of this work is to understand the mechanisms that regulate retroviral replication, and also to use these viruses as models for elucidating human cellular processes. Our work is thus relevant to understanding cancer and immunity, as well as viral pathogenesis.  The specific projects in the laboratory at this time examine the following issues: (1) development of new strategies to treat or prevent retrovirus-associated diseases, (2) the mechanism of action of the DEK protein, which has been linked to the pathogenesis of HIV-2, leukemia, several solid tumors, and autoimmune disease, (3) the role of vimentin in immunity, and (4) pathogenic effects of human endogenous retroviruses.

Representative Publications

Mor-Vaknin, N., Punturieri, A., Sitwala, K., and Markovitz, D.M. Vimentin is secreted by activated macrophages. Nature Cell Biology 5:59-63, 2003.

Cleary, J., Sitwala, K.V., Khodadoust, M.S., Kwok, R.P.S., Mor-Vaknin, N., Cebrat, M., Cole, P. A., and Markovitz, D.M . p300/CBP-associated factor drives DEK into interchromatin granule clusters. J. Biol. Chem. 280(36):31760-31767, 2005.

Mor-Vaknin, N., Punturieri, A., Sitwala, K., Faulkner, N., Legendre, M., Khodadoust, M.S., Kappes, F., Ruth, J.H., Koch, A., Glass, D., Petruzzelli, L., Adams , B.S., and Markovitz, D.M . The DEK nuclear autoantigen is a secreted chemotactic factor. Molecular and Cellular Biology 2006 26(24):9484-9496, 2006.

Kappes, F., Fahrer, J., Khodadoust, M.S., Tabbert, A., Strasser, C., Mor-Vaknin, N., Moreno-Villanueva, M., Burkle, A., Markovitz, D.M., and Ferrando-May, E. DEK is a poly(ADP-ribose)-acceptor in apoptosis and mediates resistance to genotoxic stress. Molecular and Cellular Biology 28(10):3245-3257, 2008.

Contreras-Galindo, R., Kaplan, M.H., Leissner, P., Verjat, T., Ferlenghi, I., Bagnoli, F., Giusti, F., Dosik, M.H., Hayes, D.F., Gitlin , S.D., and Markovitz, D.M. Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K (HML-2) Elements in the Plasma of People with Lymphoma and Breast Cancer. J. Virology, 2008 Oct; 82 (19): 9329-36.