Helminth Immunology Section
Pedro H. Gazzinelli Guimaraes, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist, Helminth Immunology Section
Contact: For contact information, search the NIH Enterprise Directory.
Major Areas of Research
- Interaction between allergen- and helminth-driven type-2 immune responses
- Biomarkers for helminth antigens- and allergens-specific human Th2 cells subsets
- Multiomic profiling and TCR repertoire diversity of effector Th2 cells in the context of allergic diseases and helminth infections in both human studies and experimental models
- Mechanisms of type-2 immune response induced by helminth infection and allergic sensitization in the lung tissue of experimental models
- Influence of helminth infections on the regulation of the immune response of allergic individuals
Program Description
Dr. Gazzinelli-Guimaraes’ research program has been focused on the regulation of the immune response to helminth parasitic infections and to the pathogenesis of allergic diseases.
We have a specific interest in understanding the plasticity and specificity of circulating peripheral and tissue-resident effector Th2 cells driven by helminth antigens and/or allergens, as well as to understand the role of the effector Th2 subsets in the establishment of tissue Type-2-mediated inflammation using both mouse models and human studies. These studies aim to identify potential targets for the development of selective immunotherapy that could prevent chronic helminth infection or that could diminish allergic inflammation.
Biography
Education
Ph.D., 2014, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
M.S., 2010, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Dr. Gazzinelli Guimaraes received his master’s degree in Parasitology in 2010 from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and received his Ph.D. in 2014 from the same university. This was followed by a consulting training at the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI) based at Imperial College - London, UK in 2015, where he then became the supervisor of the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation (SCORE) project in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, managed by the University of Georgia–USA. He joined NIH in 2016 as a post-doctoral research fellow with Dr. Thomas Nutman in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases (LPD), NIAID. He is currently a Staff Scientist in LPD.
Selected Publications
Kupritz J, Angelova A, Nutman TB, Gazzinelli-Guimaraes PH. Helminth-Induced Human Gastrointestinal Dysbiosis: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Reveals Insights into Altered Taxon Diversity and Microbial Gradient Collapse. mBio. 2021 Dec 21;12(6):e0289021.
Gazzinelli-Guimaraes PH, Bennuru S, de Queiroz Prado R, Ricciardi A, Sciurba J, Kupritz J, Moser M, Kamenyeva O, Nutman TB. House dust mite sensitization drives cross-reactive immune responses to homologous helminth proteins. PLoS Pathog. 2021 Mar 2;17(3):e1009337.
Gazzinelli-Guimaraes PH, de Queiroz Prado R, Ricciardi A, Bonne-Année S, Sciurba J, Karmele EP, Fujiwara RT, Nutman TB. Allergen presensitization drives an eosinophil-dependent arrest in lung-specific helminth development. J Clin Invest. 2019 Aug 5;129(9):3686-3701.
Lee SH, Chaves MM, Kamenyeva O, Gazzinelli-Guimaraes PH, Kang B, Pessenda G, Passelli K, Tacchini-Cottier F, Kabat J, Jacobsen EA, Nutman TB, Sacks DL. M2-like, dermal macrophages are maintained via IL-4/CCL24-mediated cooperative interaction with eosinophils in cutaneous leishmaniasis. Sci Immunol. 2020 Apr 10;5(46):eaaz4415.
Gazzinelli-Guimarães PH, Bonne-Année S, Fujiwara RT, Santiago HC, Nutman TB. Allergic Sensitization Underlies Hyperreactive Antigen-Specific CD4+ T Cell Responses in Coincident Filarial Infection. J Immunol. 2016 Oct 1;197(7):2772-9. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1600829. Epub 2016 Aug 26. PMID: 27566825; PMCID: PMC5026971.
Gazzinelli-Guimaraes PH, Nutman TB. Helminth parasites and immune regulation. F1000Res. 2018 Oct 23;7:F1000 Faculty Rev-1685.