Dr. LIVIA YAMASHIRO
 
 
First Name
LIVIA
Last Name
YAMASHIRO
University/Institution
University of California - Berkeley
Email ID
liviayamashiro@berkeley.edu
City
Berkeley
Country
United States
State
California
Zip code
94709
Department
MCB
Area of Research
Immunology
Area of Expertise
infectious disease
Brief Description of Research Interest:
 

I have a strong background in immunology related to host innate immune system-pathogen interactions. Using different pathogens (bacteria and viruses) I am interested in understanding how the innate immune system can control the infection and what factors make the host susceptible to disease.


I am currently working with the pathways initiated following:


Activation of Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) and their contributions in diverse pathogen infections, from bacteria to viruses. STING activation results in type I IFN responses, NF-kB activation and initiation of autophagy. Although the former has been intensively studied and it is thought to be the primary output of STING signaling, NF-kB and autophagy machineries are ancestral signaling pathways present in organisms that have STING but appear to lack type I IFN responses, raising the possibility that these are the primary or ancestral signaling outputs of STING. In order to disentangle these responses, we generated knock-in mice with mutations on Sting that will keep active specific arms of the pathway. With these mice I could investigate the importance of the distinct outputs of STING activation. Surprisingly, my results showed that STING-mediated autophagy has an important antiviral role during Herpes simplex virus-1 infection and that this response is type I IFN-independent. These results provide evidence that STING-mediated responses during infections are not limited to type I IFN contribution and that ancient conserved machineries in this pathway have important roles as defense mechanisms.

 
Representative Publications:
 

Yamashiro LH, Wilson SC, Karalis V, Morrison HM, Chung JY, Chen KJ, Szpara ML, Bateup HS, Lee AY, Cox JS, Vance RE. Type I interferon-independent STING signaling contributes to control of HSV-1 infection in vivo. (under revision).


Ji DX, Yamashiro LH, Chen KJ, Mukaida N, Kramnik I, Darwin KH, Vance RE. (2019). Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist mediates type I interferon-driven susceptibility to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Sst1 S mice. Nat Microbiol. 2019 Dec;4(12):2128-2135. doi: 10.1038/s41564-019-0578-3. Epub 2019 Oct 14.


Yamashiro LH, de Souza GEP, de Melo Soares D. (2019). Role of CINC-1 and CXCR2 receptors on LPS-induced fever in rats. Pflugers Arch. Feb;471(2):301-311. doi: 10.1007/s00424-018-2222-0.


Soares FS, Amaral FC, Silva NLC, Valente MR, Santos LKR, Yamashiro LH, Scheffer MC, Castanheira FVES, Ferreira RG, Gehrke L, Alves-Filho JC, Silva LP, Báfica A, Spiller F. (2017). Antibiotic-induced pathobiont dissemination accelerates mortality in severe experimental pancreatitis. Front Immunol. Dec 22;8:1890. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.01890.


Yamashiro LH, Eto C, Soncini MD, Horewicz, VV, Garcia, MD, Schlindwein, AD, Grisard, EC, Rovaris DB, Báfica A. (2016) Isoniazid-induced control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by primary human cells requires interleukin-1 receptor and tumor necrosis factor. Eur J Immunol. Aug;46(8):1936-47. doi: 10.1002/eji.201646349.


Bollampalli VP, Harumi Yamashiro L, Feng X, Bierschenk D, Gao Y, Blom H, Henriques-Normark B, Nylén S, Rothfuchs AG. (2015). BCG Skin Infection Triggers IL-1R-MyD88-Dependent Migration of EpCAMlow CD11bhigh Skin Dendritic cells to Draining Lymph Node During CD4+ T-Cell Priming. PLOS Pathogens. Oct 6;11(10):e1005206. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005206.


Yamashiro LH, Oliveira SC, Báfica A. (2014). Innate immune sensing of nucleic acids from mycobacteria. Microbes Infect. Dec;16(12):991-7. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2014.09.006. Epub 2014 Oct 2.


Soares DM, Machado RR, Yamashiro LH, Melo MC, Souza GE. (2008). Cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC)-1induces fever by a prostaglandin-dependent mechanism in rats. Brain Res. Oct 3;1233:79-88. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.07.069. Epub 2008 Jul 29.