Publications by authors named "Alexander McGurk"

Unlabelled: Aggregating immune cells within perivascular niches (PVN) can regulate tissue immunity in infection, autoimmunity and cancer. How cells are assembled at PVNs and the activation signals imparted within remain unclear. Here, we integrate dynamic time-resolved imaging with a novel spatially-resolved platform for microanatomical interrogation of transcriptome, immune phenotype and inflammatory mediators in skin PVNs.

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Unlabelled: Therapies targeting oncogene addiction have had a tremendous impact on tumor growth and patient outcome, but drug resistance continues to be problematic. One approach to deal with the challenge of resistance entails extending anticancer treatments beyond targeting cancer cells by additionally altering the tumor microenvironment. Understanding how the tumor microenvironment contributes to the evolution of diverse resistance pathways could aid in the design of sequential treatments that can elicit and take advantage of a predictable resistance trajectory.

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Successful immunity to infection, malignancy, and tissue damage requires the coordinated recruitment of numerous immune cell subsets to target tissues. Once within the target tissue, effector T cells rely on local chemotactic cues and structural cues from the tissue matrix to navigate the tissue, interact with antigen-presenting cells, and release effector cytokines. This highly dynamic process has been "caught on camera" in situ by intravital multiphoton imaging.

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Correct positioning of T cells within infected tissues is critical for T cell activation and pathogen control. Upon tissue entry, effector T cells must efficiently locate antigen-presenting cells (APC) for peripheral activation. We reveal that tissue entry and initial peripheral activation of Th1 effector T cells are tightly linked to perivascular positioning of chemokine-expressing APCs.

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Atopic dermatitis (AD) lesional skin is often colonized with S. aureus, and the load of S. aureus correlates with disease severity.

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