Dr Mohlopheni Jackson Marakalala

Associate Professor, UCL
Faculty Member, AHRI
Wellcome Trust International Intermediate Fellow

About

Research in the Marakalala lab focuses on understanding basic biology of TB immunopathogenesis to guide development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

Research summary

Dr Mohlopeni Marakalala’s group’s core interest is in developing TB biomarkers and host-directed therapies by studying factors associated with disease progression using lung tissue and blood samples from TB patients. The group are also interested in various cell death modalities in the mononuclear phagocyte system and their role in TB immunopathogenesis. The group’s other focus is on understanding strategies utilized by Mycobacterium tuberculosis to subvert the host immune system.

Selected publications

• Marakalala MJ, Martinez FO, Plüddemann A, Gordon S. Macrophage Heterogeneity in the Immunopathogenesis of Tuberculosis. Front Microbiol. 2018 May 23;9:1028. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01028. eCollection 2018. Review. PubMed PMID: 29875747;PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5974223
• Wagener M, Hoving JC, Ndlovu H, Marakalala MJ. Dectin-1-Syk-CARD9 Signaling Pathway in TB Immunity. Front Immunol. 2018 Feb 13;9:225. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00225. eCollection 2018. Review. PubMed PMID: 29487599; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5816931
• Parihar SP, Ozturk M, Marakalala MJ, Loots DT, Hurdayal R, Beukes D, Van Reenen M, Zak DE, Mbandi SK, Darboe F, Penn-Nicholson A, Hanekom WA, Leitges M, Scriba TJ, Guler R, Brombacher F. Protein kinase C-delta (PKCδ), a marker of inflammation and tuberculosis disease progression in humans, is important for optimal macrophage killing effector functions and survival in mice. Mucosal Immunol. 2018 Mar;11(2):579-580. doi: 10.1038/mi.2017.108. Epub 2017 Dec 20. PubMed PMID: 29346346
• Kurthkoti K, Amin H, Marakalala MJ, Ghanny S, Subbian S, Sakatos A, Livny J, Fortune SM, Berney M, Rodriguez GM. The Capacity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis To Survive Iron Starvation Might Enable It To Persist in Iron-Deprived Microenvironments of Human Granulomas. MBio. 2017 Aug 15;8(4). pii: e01092-17. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01092-17. PubMed PMID: 28811344; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5559634
• Marakalala MJ, Ndlovu H. Signaling C-type lectin receptors in antimycobacterial immunity. PLoS Pathog. 2017 Jun 22;13(6):e1006333. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006333. eCollection 2017 Jun. Review. PubMed PMID: 28640912; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5481012
• Ndlovu H, Marakalala MJ. Granulomas and Inflammation: Host-Directed Therapies for Tuberculosis. Front Immunol. 2016 Oct 24;7:434. eCollection 2016. Review. PubMed PMID: 27822210; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5075764
• Marakalala MJ, Raju RM, Sharma K, Zhang YJ, Eugenin EA, Prideaux B, Daudelin IB, Chen PY, Booty MG, Kim JH, Eum SY, Via LE, Behar SM, Barry CE 3rd, Mann M, Dartois V, Rubin EJ. Inflammatory signaling in human tuberculosis granulomas is spatially organized. Nat Med. 2016 May;22(5):531-8. doi: 10.1038/nm.4073. Epub 2016 Apr 4. PubMed PMID: 27043495; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4860068
• Wilson GJ, Marakalala MJ, Hoving JC, van Laarhoven A, Drummond RA, Kerscher B, Keeton R, van de Vosse E, Ottenhoff TH, Plantinga TS, Alisjahbana B, Govender D, Besra GS, Netea MG, Reid DM, Willment JA, Jacobs M, Yamasaki S, van Crevel R, Brown GD. The C-type lectin receptor CLECSF8/CLEC4D is a key component of anti-mycobacterial immunity. Cell Host Microbe. 2015 Feb 11;17(2):252-9. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2015.01.004. PubMed PMID: 25674984; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4334100.
• Wilson GJ, Marakalala MJ*, Hoving JC, van Laarhoven A, Drummond RA, Kerscher B, Keeton R, van de Vosse E, Ottenhoff TH, Plantinga TS, Alisjahbana B, Govender D, Besra GS, Netea MG, Reid DM, Willment JA, Jacobs M, Yamasaki S, van Crevel R, Brown GD. The C-type lectin receptor CLECSF8/CLEC4D is a key component of anti-mycobacterial immunity. Cell Host Microbe. 2015 Feb 11;17(2):252-9. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2015.01.004. PubMed PMID: 25674984; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4334100. (*co-first author)
• Mavrici D, Marakalala MJ, Holton JM, Prigozhin DM, Gee CL, Zhang YJ, Rubin EJ, Alber T. Mycobacterium tuberculosis FtsX extracellular domain activates the peptidoglycan hydrolase, RipC. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jun 3;111(22):8037-42. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1321812111. Epub 2014 May 19. PubMed PMID: 24843173; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4050617
• Marakalala MJ, Vautier S, Potrykus J, Walker LA, Shepardson KM, Hopke A, Mora-Montes HM, Kerrigan A, Netea MG, Murray GI, Maccallum DM, Wheeler R, Munro CA, Gow NA, Cramer RA, Brown AJ, Brown GD. Differential adaptation of Candida albicans in vivo modulates immune recognition by dectin-1. PLoS Pathog. 2013;9(4):e1003315. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003315. Epub 2013 Apr 18. PubMed PMID: 23637604; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3630191.