Takeshi Egawa, MD, PhD

Research Interests

Our lab has a long-standing interest in the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that control the development and functions of lymphocytes. Specifically, we study the molecular mechanisms by which lymphocyte lineage decisions are initiated and stably maintained during the development and also durable immune responses are maintained in responses changes in pathogen burdens, and inflammatory conditions. Currently, we focused our research into the following areas: (1) Gene expression programs in T cells and B cells that drive their requisite clonal expansion for antigen-receptor diversification and protection against pathogen infection and cancers, and simultaneously protect them from transformation by focusing on c-MYC-initiated gene expression programs. (2) The population dynamics and gene expression changes in CD8 T cells at the face of chronic antigen stimulation during viral infection or in the tumor microenvironment to understand how CD8 T cells fall into “exhaustion” and how their function can be restored for better control of antiviral and anti-tumor immunity. (3) Environmental factors that act on developing lymphocytes, activated lymphocytes during immune responses or cancer cells and intracellular signals that respond to the cell-extrinsic signals.

Service to the University

2010-present	Immunology Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences
2010-present	Developmental, Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences
2011-present	Immunology Program, Qualifying examination committee
2015-present	Course Director, Foundations in Immunology BIO5053
2015-present	Co-organizer, Immunology Work-in-progress

DBBS Affiliation

• Immunology Program

Publications

Satpathy AT, Briseño CG, Cai X, Michael DG, Chou C, Hsiung S, Bhattacharya D, Speck NA, Egawa T: Runx1 and Cbfb regulate the development of Flt3+ dendritic cell progenitors and restrict myeloproliferative disorder. Blood 2014;123(19):2966-2977. PMID: 24677539. PMCID: PMC4014839.

Chou C, Pinto AK, Curtis JD, Persaud SP, Cella M, Lin C-C, Edelson BT, Allen PM, Colonna M, Pearce EL, Diamond MS, Egawa T: c-Myc-induced transcription factor AP4 is required for CD8+ T cell-mediated host protection. Nat Immunol. 2014;15(9):884-893. PMID: 25029552. PMCID: PMC4139462.

Kim B, Sasaki Y, Egawa T: Restriction of Nonpermissive RUNX3 Protein Expression in T Lymphocytes by the Kozak Sequence. J Immunol. 2015;195(4):1517-1523. PMID: 26170388. PMCID: PMC4530074.

Ebihara T, Song C, Ryu S, Plougastel-Douglas B, Yang L, Levanon D, Groner Y, Bern M, Stappenbeck T, Colonna M, Egawa T, Yokoyama WM: Runx3 specifies lineage commitment of innate lymphoid cells. Nat Immunol. 2015;16(11):1124-1133. PMID: 26414766. PMCID: PMC4618046.

Chou C, Verbaro DJ, Tonc E, Holmgren M, Cella M, Colonna M, Bhattacharya D, Egawa T: The Transcription Factor AP4 Mediates Resolution of Chronic Viral Infection through Amplification of Germinal Center B Cell Responses. Immunity. 2016;20;45(3):570-582. PMID: 27566940. PMCID: PMC5037962.

Iwata A, Durai V, Tussiwand R, Briseño CG, Wu X, Grajales-Reyes GE, Egawa T, Murphy TL, Murphy KM: Quality of TCR signaling determined by differential affinities of enhancers for the composite BATF-IRF4 transcription factor complex. Nat Immunol. 2017;18(5):563-572. PMID: 28346410. PMCID: PMC5401770.

Inoue T, Shinnakasu R, Ise W, Kawai C, Egawa T, Kurosaki T: The transcription factor Foxo1 controls germinal center B cell proliferation in response to T cell help. J Exp Med. 2017;214(4):1181-1198. PMID: 28351982. PMCID: PMC5379976.

Verbaro DJ, Sakurai N, Kim B, Shinkai Y, Egawa T: CUTTING EDGE The histone methyltransferase G9a is required for silencing of helper T lineage-associated genes in proliferating CD8 T cells. J Immunol. 2018;200(12):3891-3896. PMID: 29720423. PMCID: PMC5957453.

Raju S, Kometani K, Kurosaki T, Shaw AS, Egawa T: The adaptor molecule CD2AP in CD4 T cells modulates differentiation of follicular helper T cells during chronic LCMV infection. PLoS Pathogen. 2018;14(5):e1007053.doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1007053. eCollection 2018 May. PMID: 29734372. PMCID: PMC5957453.

Raju S, Verbaro DJ, Egawa T: PD-1 Signaling Promotes Control of Chronic Viral Infection by Restricting Type-I-Interferon-Mediated Tissue Damage. Cell Rep. 2019;29(9):2556-2564.e3. PMID: 31775026. PMCID: PMC6894421.