Key Documents

Elizabeth Mellins

Associate Professor - Med Center Line, Pediatrics - Human Gene Therapy
Member, Bio-X

Contact Information

Clinical Offices

Medicine Specialties Clinic 730 Welch Rd 2nd Floor Palo Alto, CA 94304
Telephone Work (650) 736-7642 Fax (650) 736-4344

Clinical Focus

Pediatric Rheumatology
Rheumatology, Pediatric

Administrative Appointments

Advisory Board, Nature, Clinical Practice Rheumatology , (2005– present )
Developer and co-Director, Introduction to Medicine for PhDs, Stanford School of Medicine , (2001– present )
Member, Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, Arthritis Foundation (national) , (2003– 2006 )
Member,CMB-I StudySection, NIAID, NIH , (2002– 2007 )

Honors and Awards

Within Our Reach grant recipient, ACR Research & Education Fund (2007)
Distinguished Service Award, American Association of Immunologists (2005)

Professional Education

Board Certification: General Pediatrics, American Board of Pediatrics (1983)
University of Washington Medical Center (1982) WA USA
University of Washington Medical Center (1981) WA USA
University of Colorado Health Science Center (1980) CO
Harvard Medical School (1978) MA
M.D., Harvard Medical School Medicine (1978)

Postdoctoral Advisees

Henriette MacMillan, Narendiran Rajasekaran, Nan Wang, Taejin Yoon

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

Community & International Work

Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance More »

Research Interests

Our lab focuses on the study of antigen presentation by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules. We have been particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms and intracellular steps involved in the generation of complexes between MHC class II molecules and peptides. Our work in this area has elucidated the roles of invariant chain and HLA-DM,
two molecules which regulate peptide-loading of class II molecules. In addition, we have investigated the molecular basis of HLA-DR4 association with rheumatoid arthritis. Ongoing
studies deal with:

1. Analysis of the biosynthesis, structure, and structure/function relationships of the HLA-DM and HLA-DO molecules.
2. Regulation of class II biosynthesis in professional antigen presenting cells.
3. Mechanistic basis of HLA allele association with autoimmune disease
4.Pathogen evasion of the class II pathway.

Publications

Precarious balance: Th17 cells in host defense. Peck A, Mellins ED. Infect Immun. 2009;
Oligoarticular and polyarticular JIA: epidemiology and pathogenesis. Macaubas C, Nguyen K, Milojevic D, Park JL, Mellins ED. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2009; 5 (11): 616-26
Breaking old paradigms: Th17 cells in autoimmune arthritis. Peck A, Mellins ED. Clin Immunol. 2009; 132 (3): 295-304
Distribution of circulating cells in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis across disease activity states. Macaubas C, Nguyen K, Deshpande C, Phillips C, Peck A, Lee T, Park JL, Sandborg C, Mellins ED. Clin Immunol. 2009;
Plasticity of T-cell phenotype and function: the T helper type 17 example. Peck A, Mellins ED. Immunology. 2009;
Modulation of peripheral B cell tolerance by CD72 in a murine model. Li DH, Winslow MM, Cao TM, Chen AH, Davis CR, Mellins ED, Utz PJ, Crabtree GR, Parnes JR. Arthritis Rheum. 2008; 58 (10): 3192-204
Posttranslational regulation of I-Ed by affinity for CLIP. Rinderknecht CH, Belmares MP, Catanzarite TL, Bankovich AJ, Holmes TH, Garcia KC, Nanda NK, Busch R, Kovats S, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 2007; 179 (9): 5907-15
Clinical research networks: a step towards evidence-based practice in pediatric rheumatology. Mellins ED, Rider LG. Nat Clin Pract Rheumatol. 2007; 3 (2): 59
Influenza A virus elevates active cathepsin B in primary murine DC. Burster T, Giffon T, Dahl ME, Björck P, Bogyo M, Weber E, Mahmood K, Lewis DB, Mellins ED. Int Immunol. 2007; 19 (5): 645-55
Candidate early predictors for progression to joint damage in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Sandborg C, Holmes TH, Lee T, Biederman K, Bloch DA, Emery H, McCurdy D, Mellins ED. J Rheumatol. 2006; 33 (11): 2322-9
Human dendritic cell expression of HLA-DO is subset specific and regulated by maturation. Hornell TM, Burster T, Jahnsen FL, Pashine A, Ochoa MT, Harding JJ, Macaubas C, Lee AW, Modlin RL, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 2006; 176 (6): 3536-47
Medicine on a need-to-know basis. Busch R, Byrne B, Gandrud L, Sears D, Meyer E, Kattah M, Kurihara C, Haertel E, Parnes JR, Mellins ED. Nat Immunol. 2006; 7 (6): 543-7
Human cytomegalovirus alters localization of MHC class II and dendrite morphology in mature Langerhans cells. Lee AW, Hertel L, Louie RK, Burster T, Lacaille V, Pashine A, Abate DA, Mocarski ES, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 2006; 177 (6): 3960-71
Achieving stability through editing and chaperoning: regulation of MHC class II peptide binding and expression. Busch R, Rinderknecht CH, Roh S, Lee AW, Harding JJ, Burster T, Hornell TM, Mellins ED. Immunol Rev. 2005; 207 242-60
Selective developmental defects of cord blood antigen-presenting cell subsets. Drohan L, Harding JJ, Holm B, Cordoba-Tongson E, Dekker CL, Holmes T, Maecker H, Mellins ED. Hum Immunol. 2004; 65 (11): 1356-69
Bordetella pertussis infection of primary human monocytes alters HLA-DR expression. Shumilla JA, Lacaille V, Hornell TM, Huang J, Narasimhan S, Relman DA, Mellins ED. Infect Immun. 2004; 72 (3): 1450-62
Formation of two peptide/MHC II isomers is catalyzed differentially by HLA-DM. Belmares MP, Busch R, Mellins ED, McConnell HM. Biochemistry. 2003; 42 (3): 838-47
Point mutations in or near the antigen-binding groove of HLA-DR3 implicate class II-associated invariant chain peptide affinity as a constraint on MHC class II polymorphism. Doebele RC, Pashine A, Liu W, Zaller DM, Belmares M, Busch R, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 2003; 170 (9): 4683-92
Susceptibility of immature and mature Langerhans cell-type dendritic cells to infection and immunomodulation by human cytomegalovirus. Hertel L, Lacaille VG, Strobl H, Mellins ED, Mocarski ES. J Virol. 2003; 77 (13): 7563-74
Cytokines elicited by T cell epitopes from a synovial autoantigen: altered peptide ligands can reduce interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 production. Hall FC, Visconti KC, Ahmad RC, Parry SL, Miltenburg AM, McConnell HM, Mellins ED, Sønderstrup G. Arthritis Rheum. 2003; 48 (8): 2375-85
Regulation of the class II MHC pathway in primary human monocytes by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Hornell TM, Beresford GW, Bushey A, Boss JM, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 2003; 171 (5): 2374-83
Interaction of HLA-DR with an acidic face of HLA-DM disrupts sequence-dependent interactions with peptides. Pashine A, Busch R, Belmares MP, Munning JN, Doebele RC, Buckingham M, Nolan GP, Mellins ED. Immunity. 2003; 19 (2): 183-92
Stabilization of soluble, low-affinity HLA-DM/HLA-DR1 complexes by leucine zippers. Busch R, Pashine A, Garcia KC, Mellins ED. J Immunol Methods. 2002; 263 (1-2): 111-21
Relationship between kinetic stability and immunogenicity of HLA-DR4/peptide complexes. Hall FC, Rabinowitz JD, Busch R, Visconti KC, Belmares M, Patil NS, Cope AP, Patel S, McConnell HM, Mellins ED, Sonderstrup G. Eur J Immunol. 2002; 32 (3): 662-70
Structural factors contributing to DM susceptibility of MHC class II/peptide complexes. Belmares MP, Busch R, Wucherpfennig KW, McConnell HM, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 2002; 169 (9): 5109-17
Autoantigenic HCgp39 epitopes are presented by the HLA-DM-dependent presentation pathway in human B cells. Patil NS, Hall FC, Drover S, Spurrell DR, Bos E, Cope AP, Sonderstrup G, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 2001; 166 (1): 33-41
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated HLA-DR alleles form less stable complexes with class II-associated invariant chain peptide than non-RA-associated HLA-DR alleles. Patil NS, Pashine A, Belmares MP, Liu W, Kaneshiro B, Rabinowitz J, McConnell H, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 2001; 167 (12): 7157-68
Determination of the HLA-DM interaction site on HLA-DR molecules. Doebele RC, Busch R, Scott HM, Pashine A, Mellins ED. Immunity. 2000; 13 (4): 517-27
Accessory molecules for MHC class II peptide loading. Busch R, Doebele RC, Patil NS, Pashine A, Mellins ED. Curr Opin Immunol. 2000; 12 (1): 99-106
pH stability of HLA-DR4 complexes with antigenic peptides. Belmares MP, Rabinowitz JD, Liu W, Mellins ED, McConnell HM. Biochemistry. 2000; 39 (47): 14558-66
Aberrant intermolecular disulfide bonding in a mutant HLA-DM molecule: implications for assembly, maturation, and function. Busch R, Doebele RC, von Scheven E, Fahrni J, Mellins ED. J Immunol. 1998; 160 (2): 734-43
Secondary structure composition and pH-dependent conformational changes of soluble recombinant HLA-DM. Busch R, Reich Z, Zaller DM, Sloan V, Mellins ED. J Biol Chem. 1998; 273 (42): 27557-64
Mediation by HLA-DM of dissociation of peptides from HLA-DR. Sloan VS, Cameron P, Porter G, Gammon M, Amaya M, Mellins E, Zaller DM. Nature. 1995; 375 (6534): 802-6
An essential role for HLA-DM in antigen presentation by class II major histocompatibility molecules. Morris P, Shaman J, Attaya M, Amaya M, Goodman S, Bergman C, Monaco JJ, Mellins E. Nature. 1994; 368 (6471): 551-4