Francesca Virdis

Researcher

Area of interest:

My research over the last thirteen years has been focused on the genetics, immunology and proteomics of autoimmune disease, in particular of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). As a graduate student I worked on a project focused on understanding the immune system regulation and its involvement in diseases, in detail, we evaluated the quantitative variation of several leukocyte populations in peripheral blood including monocytes, granulocytes, circulating dendritic cells and lymphocytes divided in NK, B and T cell subsets. After graduation, I spent five years in USA as a post doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Lisa Denzin at Child Health Institute-Rutgers University (NJ), my research was focused on the genetic components that affect the immune system and, in particular, the contribution of non-DR/DQ genes in the MHC that modify disease susceptibility to T1D in the Sardinian population. My current project aims to characterize by flow cytometry extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the peripheral blood of  Sardinians volunteers. EVs are small vesicles known to facilitate intercellular communication in different cellular processes. Also, I’m still studying DM function in the MHC class II antigen-processing pathway to establish functional differences in DM alleles and how functional differences in DM activity influences the development of human T1D.

Most significant publications:

2020

Graves, A. M.; Virdis, F.; Morrison, E.; Álvaro-Benito, M.; Khan, A. A.; Freund, C.; Golovkina, T. V.; Denzin, L. K.

Human Hepatitis B Viral Infection Outcomes Are Linked to Naturally Occurring Variants of HLA-DOA That Have Altered Function Journal Article

In: J Immunol, 205 (4), pp. 923–935, 2020.

Abstract | BibTeX

2017

Steri, Maristella; Orrù, Valeria; Idda, Laura M; Pitzalis, Maristella; Pala, Mauro; Zara, Ilenia; Sidore, Carlo; Faà, Valeria; Floris, Matteo; Deiana, Manila; Asunis, Isadora; Porcu, Eleonora; Mulas, Antonella; Piras, Maria G; Lobina, Monia; Lai, Sandra; Marongiu, Mara; Serra, Valentina; Marongiu, Michele; Sole, Gabriella; Busonero, Fabio; Maschio, Andrea; Cusano, Roberto; Cuccuru, Gianmauro; Deidda, Francesca; Poddie, Fausto; Farina, Gabriele; Dei, Mariano; Virdis, Francesca; Olla, Stefania; Satta, Maria A; Pani, Mario; Delitala, Alessandro; Cocco, Eleonora; Frau, Jessica; Coghe, Giancarlo; Lorefice, Lorena; Fenu, Giuseppe; Ferrigno, Paola; Ban, Maria; Barizzone, Nadia; Leone, Maurizio; Guerini, Franca R; Piga, Matteo; Firinu, Davide; Kockum, Ingrid; Bomfim, Izaura Lima; Olsson, Tomas; Alfredsson, Lars; Suarez, Ana; Carreira, Patricia E; Castillo-Palma, Maria J; Marcus, Joseph H; Congia, Mauro; Angius, Andrea; Melis, Maurizio; Gonzalez, Antonio; Riquelme, Marta E Alarcón; da Silva, Berta M; Marchini, Maurizio; Danieli, Maria G; Giacco, Stefano Del; Mathieu, Alessandro; Pani, Antonello; Montgomery, Stephen B; Rosati, Giulio; Hillert, Jan; Sawcer, Stephen; D'Alfonso, Sandra; Todd, John A; Novembre, John; Abecasis, Gonçalo R; Whalen, Michael B; Marrosu, Maria G; Meloni, Alessandra; Sanna, Serena; Gorospe, Myriam; Schlessinger, David; Fiorillo, Edoardo; Zoledziewska, Magdalena; Cucca, Francesco

Overexpression of the Cytokine BAFF and Autoimmunity Risk Journal Article

In: The New England Journal of Medicine, 376 (17), pp. 1615–1626, 2017, ISSN: 1533-4406, (See Editorials, Korn T, Oukka M. A BAFFling Association between Malaria Resistance and the Risk of Multiple Sclerosis. N Engl J Med. 2017 Apr 27;376(17):1680-1681. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe1700720.; Stohl W., Systemic lupus erythematosus: BAFF emerges from the genetic shadows. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2017 Jun 15. doi: 10.1038/nrrheum.2017.99; Comabella M. Neuroimmunology: B cells and variant BAFF in autoimmune disease. Nat Rev Neurol. 2017 Jun 16. doi: 10.1038/nrneurol.2017.87.).

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Denzin, L. K.; Khan, A. A.; Virdis, F.; Wilks, J.; Kane, M.; Beilinson, H. A.; Dikiy, S.; Case, L. K.; Roopenian, D.; Witkowski, M.; Chervonsky, A. V.; Golovkina, T. V.

Neutralizing Antibody Responses to Viral Infections Are Linked to the Non-classical MHC Class II Gene H2-Ob Journal Article

In: Immunity, 47 (2), pp. 310–322, 2017.

Abstract | BibTeX

2013

Orrù, Valeria; Steri, Maristella; Sole, Gabriella; Sidore, Carlo; Virdis, Francesca; Dei, Mariano; Lai, Sandra; Zoledziewska, Magdalena; Busonero, Fabio; Mulas, Antonella; Floris, Matteo; Mentzen, Wieslawa I; Urru, Silvana A M; Olla, Stefania; Marongiu, Michele; Piras, Maria G; Lobina, Monia; Maschio, Andrea; Pitzalis, Maristella; Urru, Maria F; Marcelli, Marco; Cusano, Roberto; Deidda, Francesca; Serra, Valentina; Oppo, Manuela; Pilu, Rosella; Reinier, Frederic; Berutti, Riccardo; Pireddu, Luca; Zara, Ilenia; Porcu, Eleonora; Kwong, Alan; Brennan, Christine; Tarrier, Brendan; Lyons, Robert; Kang, Hyun M; Uzzau, Sergio; Atzeni, Rossano; Valentini, Maria; Firinu, Davide; Leoni, Lidia; Rotta, Gianluca; Naitza, Silvia; Angius, Andrea; Congia, Mauro; Whalen, Michael B; Jones, Chris M; Schlessinger, David; Abecasis, Gonçalo R; Fiorillo, Edoardo; Sanna, Serena; Cucca, Francesco

Genetic variants regulating immune cell levels in health and disease. Journal Article

In: Cell, 155 (1), pp. 242–56, 2013, ISSN: 1097-4172.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX