William C. Sha, M.D., Ph.D.

Sections

William C. Sha, M.D., Ph.D.
Title
Associate Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
Department
Department of Molecular & Cell Biology
Institution
University of California, Berkeley
Address
142 Life Sciences Addition #3200
City, State, ZIP
Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone
(510) 643-2783
Email
[email protected]
Website
http://mcb.berkeley.edu/index.php?option=com_mcbfaculty&name=shab
Research field
Immunology
Award year
1997

Research

We are interested in understanding the molecular control of antibody responses by B cells. We previously identified a novel costimulatory molecule, B7h, expressed on B cells and other antigen-presenting cells that is the sole in vivo ligand for the ICOS costimulatory receptor expressed on activated T cells. B7h is highly regulated and appears to be a critical control point on B cells for controlling the magnitude of antibody responses. We have identified two potent mechanisms, ectodomain shedding and transcriptional regulation, that severely limit B7h expression on activated B cells. We are currently studying how these molecular mechanisms are regulated and control antibody responses using both in vitro tissue culture assays and transgenic/knockout mouse models.

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