- Speciality in Hematology - Institute of Hematology
- Residency - Coltea Clinical Hospital
- M.D. - Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davilla"
Education & Training
Popescu I, Macedo, Abu-Elmagd K, Shapiro R, Hua Y, Thomson AW, Morelli AE, Storkus WJ and Metes D. EBV-specific CD8+ T cells reactivation in transplant patients results in expansion of CD8+ Type-1 regulatory T cells. American Journal of Transplantation 2007; 7(5):1215-23.
Macedo C., Orkis EA., Popescu I., Elinoff BD., Zeevi A., Shapiro R., Lakkis FG, Metes D. Contribution of naïve and memory T cell populations to the human alloimmune response. American Journal of Transplantation 2009; 9:2057–2066.
Turnquist HR, Cardinal J, Macedo C, Rosoborough BR, Stumper T, Geller DA, Metes D, Thomson AW. mTOR and GSK-3 shape the CD4+T cell stimulatory and differentiation capacity of myeloid DC following exposure to LPS. Blood 2010; 115(23):4758-69
Macedo C, Webber SA, Donnenberg A, Popescu I, Hua Y, Green M, Rowe D, Smith L, Brooks M, Metes D. EBV-specific CD8+ T cells from asymptomatic pediatric thoracic transplant patients carrying chronic high EBV loads display contrasting features: activated phenotype and exhausted function. Journal of Immunology 2011; 186(10):5854-62.
Wiesmayr S., Webber SA., Smith L., Popescu I., Macedo C., Metes D. Decreased NKp46 and NKG2D expression in the presence of elevated PD-1 lead to significant NK cell functional alterations in pediatric Tx patients with PTLD. European Journal of Immunology; 2012; 42:541-550.
Macedo C, Walters JT, Orkis EA, Elinoff BD, Fedorek SP, Chalasani G, Kumico , Demetris AJ, Zeevi A, Shapiro R, Lakkis FG, Metes D. Long-term effects of Alemtuzumab induction on regulatory and memory T cell subsets and their relationship to clinical outcome in kidney transplant recipients. Transplantation; 2012; 93(8):813-21.
- Immune responses to EBV
- Immune responses to alloantigens
- DC immunobiology
Solid organ transplantation is the treatment choice for patients with end-stage organ failure diseases. While life-long immunosuppressive drugs are given to these patients to prevent allograft rejection and promote immune tolerance, these drugs trigger unwanted side effects, such as opportunistic infections and cancers, including EBV-driven PTLD. My lab’s research interests focus on studying T lymphocytes and DC in solid organ transplant patients, in the effort to identify specific immune markers that may predict immune quiescence, or immune pathways that may interfere with rejection or the risk for EBV complications:
- Immune responses to EBV: analyze cellular and molecular aspects of T cell exhaustion that may occur in memory EBV-specific CD8+ T cells after organ transplantation, leading to EBV complications in some Tx patients.
- Immune responses to alloantigens: assess the role of Tregs and of memory T cells in triggering allo-immune quiescence vs allograft rejection. The impact of novel depleting vs non-depleting induction therapies in shaping T cell alloreactivity and T cell memory in solid organ Tx recipients.
- DC immunobiology: study the role of pharmacologic agents in promoting DC tolerogenicity with implications for the regulation of recall- and allo-Ag specific T cell responses.