Members
Athena Soulika
Associate Professor
2425 Stockton Blvd, Room 601, Sacramento, CA 95817
(916) 453-5061
athena.soulika (at) ucdavis.edu
Education
- BS Chemistry, U. of Patras, Patras Greece
- PhD Immunology/Protein Chemistry,
- U. of Patras, Patras Greece/U. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Research Interests
Innate immunity, T cell polarization
The main effectors during the axonal demyelinating phases of multiple sclerosis, and its animal model Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) are the activated cells that penetrate the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB). The demyelination of axons leadso neurological deficits and in extreme situations to death. Recently, the subset of cells Th17 has been associated with the pathogenesis of the disease. These cells have been associated with a variety of autoimmune and disorders. However, the mechanisms governing the activation and the polarization of these cells are unclear. The first responder during an infection is the innate immunity. Its response is immediate and upon persistent activation it creates the milieu that will eventually influence the polarization and activation of T cells. We use the well established model of MOG-EAE in mice in order to identify the components of the innate immunity that facilitate the development of the pathogenic T cells during the different stages of the disease.
2015
Sckisel GD, Bouchlaka MN, Monjazeb AM, Crittenden M, Curti BD, Wilkins DE, Alderson KA, Sungur CM, Ames E, Mirsoian A, Reddy A, Alexander W, Soulika A, Blazar BR, Longo DL, Wiltrout RH, Murphy WJ. Out-of-Sequence Signal 3 Paralyzes Primary CD4(+) T-Cell-Dependent Immunity. Immunity. 2015 Aug 18;43(2):240-50. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2015.06.023. Epub 2015 Jul 28. PubMed PMID: 26231116; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4770886. Download PDF
Liu C, Shen H, Yi L, Shao P, Soulika AM, Meng X, Xing L, Yan X, Zhang X. Oral administration of aflatoxin G₁ induces chronic alveolar inflammation associated with lung tumorigenesis. Toxicol Lett. 2015 Feb 3;232(3):547-56. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2014.11.002. Epub 2014 Nov 4. PubMed PMID: 25445582. Download PDF
2014
Mills Ko E, Ma JH, Guo F, Miers L, Lee E, Bannerman P, Burns T, Ko D, Sohn J, Soulika AM, Pleasure D. Deletion of astroglial CXCL10 delays clinical onset but does not affect progressive axon loss in a murine autoimmune multiple sclerosis model. J Neuroinflammation. 2014 Jun 12;11:105. doi: 10.1186/1742-2094-11-105. PubMed PMID: 24924222; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4066277. Download PDF
Moreno M, Bannerman P, Ma J, Guo F, Miers L, Soulika AM, Pleasure D. Conditional ablation of astroglial CCL2 suppresses CNS accumulation of M1 macrophages and preserves axons in mice with MOG peptide EAE. J Neurosci. 2014 Jun 11;34(24):8175-85. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1137-14.2014. PubMed PMID: 24920622; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4051973. Download PDF
Kim MH, Gorouhi F, Ramirez S, Granick JL, Byrne BA, Soulika AM, Simon SI, Isseroff RR. Catecholamine stress alters neutrophil trafficking and impairs wound healing by β2-adrenergic receptor-mediated upregulation of IL-6. J Invest Dermatol. 2014 Mar;134(3):809-817. doi: 10.1038/jid.2013.415. Epub 2013 Oct 11. PubMed PMID: 24121404; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4013292. Download PDF
2013
Moreno M, Guo F, Mills Ko E, Bannerman P, Soulika A, Pleasure D. Origins and significance of astrogliosis in the multiple sclerosis model, MOG peptide EAE. J Neurol Sci. 2013 Oct 15;333(1-2):55-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2012.12.014. Epub 2013 Jan 5. Review. PubMed PMID: 23294494; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3624040. Download PDF
2012
Shen H, Yao P, Lee E, Greenhalgh D, Soulika AM. Interferon-gamma inhibits healing post scald burn injury. Wound Repair Regen. 2012 Jul-Aug;20(4):580-91. doi: 10.1111/j.1524-475X.2012.00812.x. Epub 2012 Jun 19. PubMed PMID: 22712462. Download PDF
Lee E, Chanamara S, Pleasure D, Soulika AM. IFN-gamma signaling in the central nervous system controls the course of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis independently of the localization and composition of inflammatory foci. J Neuroinflammation. 2012 Jan 16;9:7. doi: 10.1186/1742-2094-9-7. PubMed PMID: 22248039; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3293042. Download PDF
Guo F, Maeda Y, Ko EM, Delgado M, Horiuchi M, Soulika A, Miers L, Burns T, Itoh T, Shen H, Lee E, Sohn J, Pleasure D. Disruption of NMDA receptors in oligodendroglial lineage cells does not alter their susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis or their normal development. J Neurosci. 2012 Jan 11;32(2):639-45. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4073-11.2012. PubMed PMID: 22238099; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3403747. Download PDF
2009
Soulika AM, Lee E, McCauley E, Miers L, Bannerman P, Pleasure D. Initiation and progression of axonopathy in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. J Neurosci. 2009 Nov 25;29(47):14965-79. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3794-09.2009. PubMed PMID: 19940192; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2990681. Download PDF
Selvaraj V, Soundarapandian MM, Chechneva O, Williams AJ, Sidorov MK, Soulika AM, Pleasure DE, Deng W. PARP-1 deficiency increases the severity of disease in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. J Biol Chem. 2009 Sep 18;284(38):26070-84. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M109.013474. Epub 2009 Jul 23. PubMed PMID: 19628872; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2758007. Download PDF
2007
Mack JT, Beljanski V, Soulika AM, Townsend DM, Brown CB, Davis W, Tew KD. “Skittish” Abca2 knockout mice display tremor, hyperactivity, and abnormal myelin ultrastructure in the central nervous system. Mol Cell Biol. 2007 Jan;27(1):44-53. doi: 10.1128/MCB.01824-06. Epub 2006 Oct 23. PubMed PMID: 17060448; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1800669. Download PDF
Bannerman P, Hahn A, Soulika A, Gallo V, Pleasure D. Astrogliosis in EAE spinal cord: derivation from radial glia, and relationships to oligodendroglia. Glia. 2007 Jan 1;55(1):57-64. doi: 10.1002/glia.20437. PubMed PMID: 17009237; NIHMSID:NIHMS120514. Download PDF
2006
Soulika AM, Holland MC, Sfyroera G, Sahu A, Lambris JD. Compstatin inhibits complement activation by binding to the beta-chain of complement factor 3. Mol Immunol. 2006 May;43(12):2023-9. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2005.12.002. Epub 2006 Feb 10. PubMed PMID: 16472861. Download PDF
Pleasure D, Soulika A, Singh SK, Gallo V, Bannerman P. Inflammation in white matter: clinical and pathophysiological aspects. Ment Retard Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2006;12(2):141-6. doi: 10.1002/mrdd.20100. Review. PubMed PMID: 16807906.
2005
Beljanski V, Soulika A, Tucker JM, Townsend DM, Davis W Jr, Tew KD. Characterization of the ATPase activity of human ATP-binding cassette transporter-2 (ABCA2). In Vivo. 2005 Jul-Aug;19(4):657-60. PubMed PMID: 15999530; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6361119. Download PDF
2004
Tew KD, Boyd JT, Chen ZJ, Davis W Jr, Fazilev F, Findlay V, Gaté L, Ile K, Soulika A, Townsend DM. Glutathione and ABC transporters as determinants of sensitivity to oxidative and nitrosative stress. J Nutr. 2004 Nov;134(11):3205S-3206S. doi: 10.1093/jn/134.11.3205S. PubMed PMID: 15514308; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6522247. Download PDF
Chen ZJ, Vulevic B, Ile KE, Soulika A, Davis W Jr, Reiner PB, Connop BP, Nathwani P, Trojanowski JQ, Tew KD. Association of ABCA2 expression with determinants of Alzheimer’s disease. FASEB J. 2004 Jul;18(10):1129-31. doi: 10.1096/fj.03-1490fje. Epub 2004 May 20. PubMed PMID: 15155565. Download PDF
Ile KE, Davis W Jr, Boyd JT, Soulika AM, Tew KD. Identification of a novel first exon of the human ABCA2 transporter gene encoding a unique N-terminus. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2004 Apr 16;1678(1):22-32. doi: 10.1016/j.bbaexp.2004.01.007. PubMed PMID: 15093135. Download PDF
Soulika AM, Morikis D, Sarrias MR, Roy M, Spruce LA, Sahu A, Lambris JD. Studies of structure-activity relations of complement inhibitor compstatin. J Immunol. 2003 Aug 15;171(4):1881-90. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.171.4.1881. PubMed PMID: 12902490. Download PDF
Soulika AM, Khan MM, Hattori T, Bowen FW, Richardson BA, Hack CE, Sahu A, Edmunds LH Jr, Lambris JD. Inhibition of heparin/protamine complex-induced complement activation by Compstatin in baboons. Clin Immunol. 2000 Sep;96(3):212-21. doi: 10.1006/clim.2000.4903. PubMed PMID: 10964539. Download PDF