Feng Lin Laboratory

Research

The complement system is an important part of the innate immunity. Complement activation products not only directly help to eliminate invading pathogens, but also participate in many immunological reactions, including clearance of immune complexes, antibody production, and T-cell regulation. Insufficient or excess complement activation has been shown to be important in a wide range of disease states, such as multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and age-related macular degeneration, as well as in allograft rejection.

My laboratory is interested in studying complement activation and regulation in these disease states, thus eventually developing novel therapies.

During the last decade, we have also developed a program focusing on CD6.  We found evidence suggesting that CD6 is a promising new therapeutic target for treating many pathological conditions, and we have been developing novel CD6-related reagents as potential drugs.

Watch a video on the lab's work in CD6, featured in the annual State of the Clinic in 2021: 

Research Supported by VeloSano

Dr. Lin's research is partially supported through a VeloSano pilot award. Learn more on the VeloSano website. 

Selected Publications

Yan Li, Wen Qiu, Lingjun Zhang, John Fung, and Lin F (2016)  Painting factor H onto mesenchymal stem cells protects the cells from complement- and neutrophil-mediated damage

Biomaterials     102: 209-219

Li Y, Singer NG, Whitebred J, Bowen MA, Fox DA and Lin F (2017) CD6 as a potential target for treating multiple sclerosis

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114(10):2687-2692

Enyindah-Asonye G, Li Y, Ruth JH, Spassov DS, Hebron KE, Zijlstra A, Moasser MM, Wang B, Singer NG, Cui H, Ohara RA, Rasmussen SM, Fox DA, Lin F (2017) CD318 is a ligand for CD6.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 114(33):E6912-E6921

Xu J, Zhang L, Xie M, Li Y, Huang P, Saunders TL, Fox DA, Rosenquist R, Lin F.(2018)  Role of Complement in a Rat Model of Paclitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.

J Immunol. 15;200(12):4094-4101

Zhang L, Sorensen MD, Kristensen BW, Reifenberger G, McIntyre TM, Lin F (2018) D-2-Hydroxyglutarate Is an Intercellular Mediator in IDH-Mutant Gliomas Inhibiting Complement and T Cells.

Clin Cancer Res. 1;24(21):5381-5391.