Alexandra McCubbrey
e-mail address: amccubbr@umich.edu

Mentor: Jeffrey Curtis, MD

Research Description

Inhaled glucocorticoids are commonly prescribed to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), although their plieotropic anti-inflammatory function is not fully understood.

I am studying the mechanism by which glucocorticoids increase the uptake of apoptotic cells by alveolar macrophages - generally an anti-inflammatory stimulus - and how these changes may alter macrophage immune function in response to bacterial infection. I am particularly interested in how the combination of inhaled glucocorticoids and apoptotic cells within the lung (such as can be found in the lungs of many COPD and severe asthma patients) changes bacterial phagocytosis and immunopathology after Streoptococcal pneumoniae infection.

Publications

McCubbrey AL, Sonstein J, Ames TM, Freeman CM, Curtis JL.  2012.  Glucocorticoids Relieve Collectin-Driven Suppression of Apoptotic Cell Uptake in Murine Alveolar Macrophages through Downregulation of SIRPα.  J Immunol.  Jul 1;189(1):112-9.


Abstracts

Alexandra L McCubbrey & Jeffrey L Curtis: “Corticosteroids Increase Murine Alveolar Macrophage Efferocytosis with Innate Immune Consequences”. Gordon Research Conference - Apoptotic Cell Recognition and Clearance, Lewiston, Maine, July 2011.

AL McCubbrey, CM Freeman, FJ Martinez, T Ames, MLK Han, SW Chensue, DA Arenberg, C Meldrum, C Getty, D Thompson, L McCloskey, JL Curtis: "Decreased cytokine production by lung CD4+ T cells in advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease". Keystone Symposia - Lymphocyte Activation and Gene Expression, Denver, Colorado, February 2010.

Awards

Rackham Conference Travel Grant, July 2011

Monte V. Hobbs Student Award, May 2011