Professor Lucy Walker

Professor of Immune Regulation

About

Research in the Walker lab focusses on autoimmune disease and immune regulation.

Research summary

Autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis arise when the immune system attacks the tissues of our own body. Our group is studying the cellular and molecular processes that allow such diseases to develop so that we can design new strategies to treat these conditions.

We have a particular interest in type 1 diabetes in which the immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.  Using a range of in vitro and in vivo models, we are learning more about the immune cell types that are responsible for causing disease as well as those that inhibit the disease process.  This encompasses study of IL-21-producing T cells as well as regulatory T cells that inhibit immune response via the CTLA-4 pathway.

Selected publications

• Walker LSK. PD-1 and CTLA4: Two checkpoints, one pathway? Sci Immunol. 2017;2(11)
• Walker LSK. EFIS Lecture: Understanding the CTLA-4 checkpoint in the maintenance of immune homeostasis. Immunol Let. 2017;184:43-50
• Petersone L, Walker LSK. MAIT cells in type 1 diabetes: a good friend turned bad. Nat Immunol. 2017;18:1283-1285
• Heuts, F, Edner NM, Walker LSK. Follicular T Helper Cells: A New Marker of Type 1 Diabetes Risk?. Diabetes. 2017;66;258-260
• Walker LSK, von Herrath M. CD4 T cell differentiation in type 1 diabetes. Clin Exp Immunol. 2016;183:16-29
• Wang CJ, Heuts F, Ovcinnikovs V, Wardzinski L, Bowers C, Schmidt EM, Walker LSK. (2015). CTLA-4 controls follicular helper T-cell differentiation by regulating the strength of CD28 engagement. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015;112;524-529
• Kenefeck R, Wang CJ, Kapadi T, Wardzinski L, Attridge K, Clough LE, Walker LSK. Follicular helper T cell signature in type 1 diabetes. J Clin Invest. 2015;125:292-303
• Schubert D, Bode C, Kenefeck R, Hou TZ, Wing JB, Kennedy A, Bulashevska A, Petersen BS, Schäffer AA, Grüning BA, Unger S, Frede N, Baumann U, Witte T, Schmidt RE, Dueckers G, Niehues T, Seneviratne S, Kanariou M, Speckmann C, Ehl S, Rensing-Ehl A, Warnatz K, Rakhmanov M, Thimme R, Hasselblatt P, Emmerich F, Cathomen T, Backofen R, Fisch P, Seidl M, May A, Schmitt-Graeff A, Ikemizu S, Salzer U, Franke A, Sakaguchi S, Walker LSK, Sansom DM, Grimbacher B. Autosomal dominant immune dysregulation syndrome in humans with CTLA4 mutations. Nat Med. 2014;20:1410-1416
• Walker LS. Maintaining a competitive edge: new rules for peripheral T cell homeostasis. Immunity. 2012;37:598-600
• Attridge K, Wang CJ, Wardzinski L, Kenefeck R, Chamberlain JL, Manzotti C, Kopf M, Walker LS. IL-21 inhibits T cell IL-2 production and impairs Treg homeostasis. Blood. 2012;119:4656-64.