Experimental Pathology
Neil
D. Christensen, Ph.D.
Professor of
Pathology, and Microbiology and Immunology
Associate
Chief, Division of Experimental Pathology
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Office: Room C7800A
Telephone: (717) 531-6185
Email: ndc1@psu.edu
Areas of interest: papillomaviruses and tumor immunology |
The
overall research theme in Dr. Neil Christensen’s laboratory is studies on
immunity and pathogenesis of papillomavirus infections. Human papillomavirus
(HPV) infection causes hyperproliferative lesions in cutaneous and mucosal
epithelium. A proportion of these HPV infections have been shown to progress to
malignancies of the uterine cervix. The major subprojects include: 1)
characterization of viral capsid neutralizing epitopes; 2) vaccine development;
3) analysis of T-cell recognition of viral epitopes on virus-infected papilloma
cells; 4) papillomavirus animal model systems; 5) model systems to test for
anti-viral compounds, and 6) methods to propagate human papillomaviruses.
Current goals are to test both protective and prophylactic vaccines using animal
models of papillomavirus infections. Our more recent studies include
identification of host receptor molecules involved in papillomavirus uptake and
internalization, and the development of a transgenic animal model to study the
role of HLA Class I in papillomavirus immunity.
Publications (selected):
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Han R, Cladel NM, Reed CA,
Peng X, Budgeon LR, Pickel M, Christensen ND. DNA vaccination prevents
and/or delays carcinoma development of papillomavirus-induced skin
papillomas on rabbits. Journal of Virology 74:9712-9716, 2000.
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Embers ME, Budgeon LR,
Pickel MD, Christensen ND. Protective immunity to rabbit oral and
cutaneous papillomaviruses by immunization with short peptides of L2, the
minor capsid protein. Journal of Virology 76:9798-9805, 2002.
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Peh WL, Brandsma JL,
Christensen ND, Cladel NM, Wu X, Doorbar J. The viral E4 protein is
required for the completion of the cottontail rabbit papillomavirus
productive cycle in vivo. Journal of Virology 78:2142-2151, 2004.
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McLaughlin-Drubin ME, Christensen ND, Meyers C. Propagation,
infection and neutralization of authentic HPV-16 virus. Virology
322:213-219, 2004.
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Wilgenburg B, Budgeon LR,
Lang CM, Griffith JW, Christensen ND. Characterization of immune
response to rabbit oral papillomavirus. Comparative Medicine
55:431-439, 2005
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Hu J, Peng X, Cladel NM,
Pickel MD, Christensen ND. Large cutaneous rabbit papillomas that
persist during cyclosporine A treatment can spontaneously regress after
cessation of immunosuppression. Journal of General Virology 86:55-63,
2005.
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Christensen ND. Emerging
human papillomavirus vaccines. Expert Opinion on Emerging Drugs
10:5-19, 2005.
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Culp TD, Budgeon LR,
Christensen ND. Human papillomaviruses bind a basal extracellular
matrix component secreted by keratinocytes which is distinct from a
membrane-associated receptor. Virology (in press), 2005.
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