Bethany B. Moore, Ph.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine,
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Director, Graduate Program in Immunology
bmoore@umich.edu

Training Faculty in Graduate Programs in Immunology, Microbiology and Immunology and Cell and Molecular Biology

Link to my website

Research Focus

The Moore laboratory works in two main areas.  The first is in the pathogenesis of fibrotic lung disease where we study epithelial cell, fibroblast and inflammatory cell interactions and their regulation by eicosanoids,  chemokines and matricellular proteins.  In our other main research area, we study the reconstitution of innate and adaptive immunity post-stem cell transplant using models of both bacterial and viral pathogens.

Research Interests

My laboratory is interested in the pathogenesis of fibrotic lung disease as well as the reconstitution of innate and adaptive immunity post-stem cell transplant. 

In our fibrosis work, we are studying epithelial cell-fibroblast interactions and how they are influenced by matricellular proteins, eicosanoids, chemokines and inflammation.  In particular, we are studying how the matricellular protein, periostin, may influence fibrogenesis and age-related susceptibility to fibrosis.  We use murine models of lung fibrosis and also have several translational research projects.  We are particularly interested in the role that fibrocytes may play in fibrotic lung disease and are currently generating mice in which this cell type can be conditionally depleted.  Another area of interest in our fibrosis work is looking at how herpesvirus infections can augment or exacerbate fibrotic outcomes.  We have demonstrated that aged, but not young mice can develop fibrosis in response to infection with murine gammaherpesvirus-68 and we are currently exploring the age-related alterations which may explain why fibrosis is associated with aging.

In our stem cell transplant work, we are interested in understanding why innate and adaptive immunity are impaired post-stem cell transplant despite hematopoietic reconstitution.  We have identified epigenetic alterations which in part explain the elevation of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) which occurs in the lung post-transplant.  This increased PGE2 impairs alveolar macrophage and neutrophil function making the transplant recipients more susceptible to multiple bacterial pathogens.  We study lung infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in these models of syngeneic and allogenic bone marrow transplantation.  Our current studies in this area are focused on the role that transplant-induced deficits in autophagy and surfactant protein A play in regulating innate immune function.

Regarding adaptive immunity post-stem cell transplant, our work has shown that mice are more susceptible to murine gammaherpesvirus infections post-transplant.  In allogeneic mice, the infection stimulates the graft vs. host reactions and induces severe pathology.  In syngeneic transplant mice, the virus can establish latency, but the alterations in the effector T cell response (a switch from Th1 to Th17 responses) appears to drive a pneumonitis that resembles idiopathic pneumonia syndrome, a common complication of human stem cell transplants.  Our current work is trying to understand how the adaptive immune response contributes to this lung pathology.

Recent Publications

Vannella, KM, Luckhardt, TR, Wilke, CA, van Dyk, LF, Toews, GB and
BB Moore. 2010. Latent herpesvirus infection augments experimental pulmonary fibrosis. Am.J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., 181:465-77. PMID: 20185751

Coomes, S.M., Wilke, C.A., Moore, T.A. and B.B. Moore.  2010.  Induction of Transforming Growth Factor-β1, not Regulatory T cells, Impairs Anti-Viral Immunity in the Lung Following Bone Marrow Transplant J. Immunol.184(9):5130-40. PMID: 20348421

Hubbard, L.N., M.N. Ballinger, P.E. Thomas, C.A. Wilke, T.J. Standiford, K.S. Kobayashi, R.A. Flavell and B.B. Moore. 2010. A role for IRAK-M in PGE2-Induced Immunosuppression Post-Bone Marrow Transplantation. J. Immunol. 184(11):6299-308. PMID: 20439918

Bauman, K.A., Wettlaufer, S.H., Okunishi, K., Vannella, K.M., Stoolman, J.S., Huang, S.K., Courey, A.J., White, E.S., Hogaboam, C.M., Simon, R.H., Toews, G.B., Sisson, T.H., Moore, B.B. and M. Peters-Golden. 2010. Anti-Fibrotic Actions of Plasminogen Activation are Mediated via Upregulation of Prostaglandin E2 Synthesis. J. Clin. Invest. 120(6):1950-60. PMID: 20501949

Naik, P.N. and B. B. Moore. 2010.  Viral Infection and Aging as Cofactors in the Development of Pulmonary Fibrosis.  Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine 4(6)759-71. PMID: 21128751

Stoolman, J.S., Vannella, K.M., Coomes, S.M, Wilke, C.A., Sisson, T.H., Toews, G.B. and B.B. Moore. 2010. Latent Infection by Gammaherpesvirus Stimulates Pro-Fibrotic Mediator Release from Multiple Cell Types. Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell Mol. Physiol. 300(2):L274-85. PMID 2103691

Hubbard, LLN, Wilke, CA, White, ES and B.B. Moore. 2011. Deletion of PTEN in alveolar macrophages post-BMT restores opsonized phagocytosis and host defense. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol Biol.45(5):1050-8.. PMID: 21527775.

Coomes, SM, Farmen, S, Wilke, CA, Laouar, Y and BB Moore. 2011. Severe gammaherpesvirus-induced pneumonitis and fibrosis in syngeneic bone marrow transplant mice is related to effects of transforming growth factor-beta on multiple cell types. Am. J. Pathol. 179(5):2382-96. PMID: 21924228

Naik, PN, Horowitz, JC, Moore, TA, Wilke, CA, Toews, GB and BB Moore, 2012, Pulmonary fibrosis induced by γherpesvirus in aged mice is associated with increased fibroblast responsiveness to TGFβ,  J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 67(7):714-25. PMID 22193547

Domingo-Gonzalez, R., Huang SK, Laouar, Y, Wilke, CA and BB Moore, 2012. COX-2 expression is upregulated by DNA hypomethylation post-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation J. Immunol. 189(9):4528-36  PMID 23008450

Naik, PK, Bozyk, PD, Bentley, JK, Popova, AP, Birch, CM, Wilke, CA, Fry, CD, White, ES, Sisson, TH, Tayob, N, Carnemolla B., Flaherty, KR, Hershenson MB, Murray, S, Martinez, FJ , BB Moore and the COMET investigators.  2012.  Periostin promotes fibrosis and predicts progression in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell Mol. Physiol. 303(12)L1046-56.

Domingo-Gonzalez, R., Katz, S., Serezani, C.H., Moore T.A., LeVine, A.M., and B.B. Moore.  2013.  PGE2-induced changes in alveolar macrophage scavenger receptor profiles differentially alter phagocytosis of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus post-bone marrow transplant. J. Immunol. (in press).

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