• Host defense 
• Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs) 
• Innate immunity 
• Role of Toll-like receptors in human disease 

Each of us is protected by the innate immune system, which recognizes invading infectious organisms and sounds an ‘immunological alarm'. Innate immunity provides the first line of defense against infections: responding within minutes, the innate immune system precedes and empowers the adaptive immune response. However, little is known about the role of abnormalities in the human innate immune system and resistance to infection.

The theme of my research is to understand how abnormalities of the innate immune system contribute to childhood illnesses such as infectious and inflammatory diseases. This issue straddles the interface between clinical care and basic science. In the summer of 2004, I was recruited to the BCRICWH and UBC with credentials as both a clinician (pediatric immunology sub-specialist) and scientist (basic immunologist) to investigate innate immunity in children.

I am particularly interested in infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae (also known as pneumococcus). Pneumococcus is a leading cause of sickness and death in children. In the past, if a previously healthy child developed a serious pneumococcal infection, physicians generally told parents that it was simply ‘bad luck'. My colleagues and I suspect the answer is more complex and now predict that defects in the way the immune system 'senses' an infection will be found in seemingly healthy children who have had a serious pneumococcal infection.

Ongoing projects include:

-Developing a new test allowing doctors to know if the ‘immunological alarm system' is working properly. This test interrogates the function of Toll-like receptors: a series of receptors that are central in controlling the innate immune response.

- Studying the role of the innate immune system in defending healthy children against pneumococcus. By examining the cellular response and genes that control innate immunity in children who developed unexplained pneumococcal infections, we expect to illuminate essential aspects of protective immunity that may lead to new insights for treatment and vaccine development.

Mansouri D, Adimi P, Mirsaedi M, Mansouri N, Tabarsi P, Amiri M, Jamaati HR, Motavasseli M, Baghaii N, Cheraghvandi A, Rouhi R, Roozbahany NA, Zahirifard S, Mohammadi F, Masjedi MR, Velayati AA, Casanova JL, Speert DP, Elwood RK, Schellenberg R, Turvey SE (2005). Primary Immune Deficiencies Presenting in Adults: Seven Years of Experience from Iran . Journal of Clinical Immunology (in press).

Orange JS, Stone KD, Turvey SE, Krzewski K (2004). The Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 61: 2361-85.

Turvey SE, Cronin B, Arnold AD, Twarog FJ, Dioun AF (2004). Adverse reactions to vitamin B12 injections due to benzyl alcohol sensitivity: successful treatment with intranasal cyanocobalamin. Allergy 59:1023-1024.

Turvey SE, Cronin B, Arnold AD, Dioun AF (2004). Antibiotic desensitization for the allergic patient: 5 years of experience and practice. Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 92:426-432.

Turvey SE, Vargas SO, Phipatanakul W (2003). Churg-Strauss syndrome in a 7-year-old receiving montelukast and inhaled corticosteroids. Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 90: 274

Turvey SE, Sundel RP (2003). Autoimmune diseases. Pediatric Allergy: Principles and Practice. Leung DYM, Sampson HA, Geha RS & Szefler SJ, eds. St Louis , MI : Mosby.

Turvey SE (2001). Atopic Diseases of Childhood. Current Opinion in Pediatrics 13: 487-95.

Turvey SE * , Jones ND * , Van Maurik A, Hara M, Kingsley CI, Smith CH, Mellor AL, Morris PJ, Wood KJ (2001). Differential susceptibility of heart, skin and islet allografts to T cell-mediated rejection. Journal of Immunology 166:2824-2830. ( * contributed equally)

Turvey SE * , Barabara JA * , Kingsley CI, Spriewald BM, Hara M, Witzke O, Morris PJ, Wood KJ (2000). Islet allograft rejection can be mediated by CD4 + , alloantigen experienced, direct pathway T cells of TH1 and TH2 cytokine phenotype. Transplantation 70:1641-1649. ( * contributed equally)

Turvey SE, Gonzalez-Nicolini V, Kingsley CI, Larregina AT, Morris PJ, Castro MG, Lowenstein PR, Wood KJ (2000). Fas ligand-transfected myoblasts and islet cell transplantation. Transplantation 69:1972-1976.

Rhodes Scholarship – 1995

Aaron Hirschfeld