Current Projects

This page lists some of our ongoing research projects, along with a few representative publications listed for each.

A full list of our publications can be found here.

1. Discovery of host factors that restrict replication of HIV-1 and other viruses

Yurkovetskiy L, Guney MH, Kim K, Goh SL, McCauley S, Dauphin A, Diehl WE, Luban J. Primate immunodeficiency virus proteins Vpx and Vpr counteract transcriptional repression of proviruses by the HUSH complex. Nat Microbiol. 2018 Dec;3(12):1354-1361.

Rosa A, Chande A, Ziglio S, De Sanctis V, Bertorelli R, Goh SL, McCauley SM, Nowosielska A, Antonarakis SE, Luban J, Santoni FA, Pizzato M. HIV-1 Nef promotes infection by excluding SERINC5 from virion incorporation. Nature. 2015 Oct 8;526(7572):212-7.

Pizzato M, McCauley SM, Neagu MR, Pertel T, Firrito C, Ziglio S, Dauphin A, Zufferey M, Berthoux L, Luban J. Lv4 Is a capsid-specific antiviral activity in human blood cells that restricts viruses of the SIVMAC/SIVSM/HIV-2 lineage prior to integration. PLoS Pathog. 2015 Jul;11(7):e1005050.

Sayah DM, Sokolskaja E, Berthoux L, Luban J. Cyclophilin A retrotransposition into TRIM5 explains owl monkey resistance to HIV-1. Nature. 2004 Jul 29;430(6999):569-73.

2. Innate immune detection of HIV-1 and other retroviruses

Yu T, Koppetsch BS, Pagliarani S, Johnston S, Silverstein NJ, Luban J, Chappell K, Weng Z, Theurkauf W. The piRNA response to retroviral invasion of the koala genome. Cell. 2019 Oct 17:179(3):632-643.e12.

McCauley SM, Kim K, Nowosielska A, Dauphin A, Yurkovetskiy L, Diehl WE, Luban J. Intron-containing RNA from the HIV-1 provirus activates type I interferon and inflammatory cytokines. Nat Commun. 2018 Dec 13;9(1):5305.

Lascano J, Uchil PD, Mothes W, Luban J. TRIM5 retroviral restriction activity correlates with the ability to induce innate immune signaling. J Virol. 2016 Jan 1;90(1):308-16.

Pertel T, Hausmann S, Morger D, Züger S, Guerra J, Lascano J, Reinhard C, Santoni FA, Uchil PD, Chatel L, Bisiaux A, Albert ML, Strambio-De-Castillia C, Mothes W, Pizzato M, Grütter MG, Luban J. TRIM5 is an innate immune sensor for the retrovirus capsid lattice. Nature. 2011 Apr 21;472(7343):361-5.

3. Host factors that promote HIV-1 replication.

Kim K, Dauphin A, Komurlu S, Yurkovetskiy L, Diehl WE, McCauley SM, Carbone C, Strambio-De-Castillia C, Campbell EM, Luban J. Cyclophilin A protects HIV-1 from restriction by human TRIM5alpha. Nature Microbiol, in press.

De Iaco A, Santoni F, Vannier A, Guipponi M, Antonarakis S, Luban J. TNPO3 protects HIV-1 replication from CPSF6-mediated capsid stabilization in the host cell cytoplasm. Retrovirology. 2013 Feb 15;10:20.

Gurer C, Berthoux L, Luban J. Covalent modification of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 p6 by SUMO-1. J Virol. 2005 Jan;79(2):910-7.

Cimarelli A, Luban J. Translation elongation factor 1-alpha interacts specifically with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Gag polyprotein. J Virol. 1999 Jul;73(7):5388-401.

4. HIV-1 pathogenesis and immunity

Gawron MA, Duval M, Carbone C, Jaiswal S, Wallace A, Martin JC 3rd, Dauphin A, Brehm MA, Greiner DL, Shultz LD, Luban J, Cavacini LA. Human Anti-HIV-1 gp120 Monoclonal Antibodies with Neutralizing Activity Cloned from Humanized Mice Infected with HIV-1. J Immunol. 2019 Feb 1;202(3):799-804.

Pertel T, Reinhard C, Luban J. Vpx rescues HIV-1 transduction of dendritic cells from the antiviral state established by type 1 interferon. Retrovirology. 2011 Jun 22;8:49.

Neagu MR, Ziegler P, Pertel T, Strambio-De-Castillia C, Grütter C, Martinetti G, Mazzucchelli L, Grütter M, Manz MG, Luban J. Potent inhibition of HIV-1 by TRIM5-cyclophilin fusion proteins engineered from human components. J Clin Invest. 2009 Oct;119(10):3035-47.

Chang F, Re F, Sebastian S, Sazer S, Luban J. HIV-1 Vpr induces defects in mitosis, cytokinesis, nuclear structure, and centrosomes. Mol Biol Cell. 2004 Apr;15(4):1793-801.

5. Characterization of immune cells, hematopoietic stem cells, and pluripotent stem cells.

Wang Y, Gellatly K, Derr A, Jaiswal S, Kucukural A, McDonel P, Green T, Houghton JM, Garber M, Luban J. HIV-1 unmasks the plasticity of innate lymphoid cells. bioRxiv 221010; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/221010.

Donnard E, Vangala P, Afik S, McCauley S, Nowosielska A, Kucukural A, Tabak B, Zhu X, Diehl W, McDonel P, Yosef N, Luban J, Garber M. Comparative Analysis of Immune Cells Reveals a Conserved Regulatory Lexicon. Cell Syst. 2018 Mar 28;6(3):381-394.e7.

Santoni FA, Guerra J, Luban J. HERV-H RNA is abundant in human embryonic stem cells and a precise marker for pluripotency. Retrovirology. 2012 Dec 20;9:111.

Colgan J, Asmal M, Neagu M, Yu B, Schneidkraut J, Lee Y, Sokolskaja E, Andreotti A, Luban J. Cyclophilin A regulates TCR signal strength in CD4+ T cells via a proline-directed conformational switch in Itk. Immunity. 2004 Aug;21(2):189-201.