Steven Van Dyken, PhD

Division

• Immunobiology

Education

• PhD:  Biomedical Sciences: University of California, San Diego, CA
• Postdoctoral Fellow: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA

Research Lab

• Van Dyken Lab

Research Interests

Our research focuses on how immune cells integrate multiple signals to maintain homeostasis within their resident tissues. In many cases, this molecular dialogue is initiated by epithelial cells and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), which produce hallmark cytokines that reflect subsequent adaptive immune responses mediated by T cells. We are interested in how ILC- and T cell-derived cytokines amplify normal tissue functions to maintain organ health. One such function is the degradation of chitin, a widespread polysaccharide and constituent of fungi, helminths and arthropods. Chitin activates a robust immune response that converges on tissue-resident lymphoid cells, particularly ILC2s, which communicate with epithelial cells via cytokines to boost production of chitinases, specialized chitin-degrading enzymes. These enzymes break down insoluble chitin, thereby relieving the immune stimulus and restoring normal tissue function. Indeed, in the absence of this feedback system, environmentally-derived chitin polymers accumulate abnormally in mammalian tissues, provoking chronic inflammation, fibrosis, and early mortality. Understanding tissue-restricted cytokine feedback loops may thus inform treatment strategies for chronic inflammatory diseases associated with ill-defined tissue remodeling and regenerative pathways. We employ cutting-edge in vivo and in vitro approaches to decode the specific signals that organize these loops in development, tissue injury, and infection to determine whether they can be manipulated to regulate barrier integrity and organ health.

DBBS Affiliation

• Immunology
• Developmental, Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
• Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Selected Publications

Jung H, Kim DH, Díaz RE, White JM, Rucknagel S, Mosby L, Wang Y, Reddy S, Winkler ES, Hassan AO, Ying B, Diamond MS, Locksley RM, Fraser JS, Van Dyken SJ. (2024). An ILC2-chitinase circuit restores lung homeostasis after epithelial injury. Science Immunology, 9(100):eadl2986. PMID: 39423283.

Castro ÍA, Yang Y, Gnazzo V, Kim DH, Van Dyken SJ, López CB. (2024). Murine parainfluenza virus persists in lung innate immune cells sustaining chronic lung pathology. Nature Microbiology, 9(11):2803-2816. PMID: 39358466.

Kim DH, Wang Y, Jung H, Field RL, Zhang X, Liu TC, Ma C, Fraser JS, Brestoff JR, Van Dyken SJ. (2023). A type 2 immune circuit in the stomach controls mammalian adaptation to dietary chitin. Science, 381(6662):1092-1098. PMID: 37676935.

Lee IS, Van Dyken SJ. (2023). Both Horatio and Polonius: Innate Lymphoid Cells in Tissue Homeostasis and Repair.  Immunohorizons, 7(11):729-736. PMID: 37916861; PMCID: PMC10695417.

Panda SK, Kim DH, Desai P, Rodrigues PF, Sudan R, Gilfillan S, Cella M, Van Dyken SJ, Colonna M. (2022). SLC7A8 is a key amino acids supplier for the metabolic programs that sustain homeostasis and activation of type 2 innate lymphoid cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 119(46):e2215528119. PMID: 36343258.

Jung H, Kim DH, Wang Y, Van Dyken SJ. (2022). Finding a Niche: Tissue Immunity and Innate Lymphoid Cells. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1365:57-73. PubMed PMID: 35567741.

Kim DH, Van Dyken SJ. (2020). ILC2s in High Definition: Decoding the Logic of Tissue-Based Immunity. Trends in Immunology, 41(1):7-16. PubMed PMID: 31787504.

Ricardo-Gonzales RR,* Van Dyken SJ,* Schneider C, Lee J, Nussbaum JC, Liang HE, Vaka D, Eckalbar WL, Molofsky AB, Erle DJ, Locksley RM. (2018). Tissue signals imprint ILC2 identity with anticipatory function. Nature Immunology, 19(10):1093-1099. PMID: 30201992. *Equal contribution.

Van Dyken SJ, Liang HE, Naikawadi RP, Woodruff PG, Wolters PJ, Erle DJ, Locksley RM. (2017). Spontaneous chitin accumulation in airways and age-related fibrotic lung disease. Cell 169(3):497-509.e13. PMID: 28431248.

Van Dyken SJ,* Nussbaum JC,* Lee J, Molofsky AB, Liang HE, Pollack JL, Gate RE, Haliburton GE, Ye CJ, Marson A, Erle DJ, Locksley RM. (2016). A tissue checkpoint regulates type 2 immunity. Nature Immunology, 17(12):1381-1387. PMID: 27749840; *Equal contribution.

Van Dyken SJ, Mohapatra A, Nussbaum JC, Molofsky AB, Thornton EE, Ziegler SF, McKenzie AN, Krummel MF, Liang HE, Locksley RM. (2014). Chitin activates parallel immune modules that direct distinct inflammatory responses via innate lymphoid type 2 and γδ T cells. Immunity, 40(3):414-24. PMID: 24631157.

Van Dyken SJ, Locksley RM. (2013). Interleukin-4- and interleukin-13-mediated alternatively activated macrophages: roles in homeostasis and disease. Annual Review of Immunology, 31:317-43. PMID: 23298208.

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Assistant
Kelly Keenan
314-273-8187
klkeenan@wustl.edu
Office Location: BJC-IOH Building, 8^th Floor, Room 8602