Anne M Stevens, MD, PhD

Professional History

Board Certified:

Pediatric Rheumatology
Pediatrics

Medical/Professional School:

Baylor College of Medicine, Houston

Residency:

Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Pediatrics

Fellowship:

University of Washington, Seattle, Pediatric Rheumatology

Clinical Interests:

Role of maternal microchimerism in pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus

Research Focus Area:

Autoimmune Diseases

Description of Research:

The Stevens Lab is focused on the role of maternal microchimerism and T lymphocyte regulation in children with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

There are two major projects:

1) Maternal Microchimerism in Systemic Lupus.

The role that maternal cells, passing into the fetus during pregnancy and persisting for years in the child, play in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. The lab has demonstrated that maternal cells can differentiate into myocardial cells in the hearts of infants with neonatal lupus syndrome, where these foreign cells may act as targets for the child's immune system. Maternal cells in children can also become liver cells, kidney cells, and pancreatic islet cells.

Current work aims to answer the question: do maternal cells, expressing foreign proteins, act to stimulate the child's immune system in these organs, leading to chronic inflammatory diseases like lupus? Or do maternal cells respond to tissue injury and aid in repair of tissue injured by inflammation due to another cause? To answer this question, the lab is studying the immune response to chimeric maternal cells in children with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and a mouse model investigating the role of maternal cells in renal injury.

2) The Loss of the Negative Regulator PD-L1 on Dendritic Cells and Monocytes in Children with SLE.

The loss of the negative regulator PD-L1 on dendritic cells and monocytes in children with SLE. This loss of a protein that inhibits T lymphocytes may lead to chronic inflammation in SLE. The Stevens Lab members are studying how PD-L1 is regulated, and exploring the use of PD-L1 as a biomarker for SLE disease activity or replacing PD-L1 as a treatment.

Students currently training in the lab include: Brian Harrington, James Kuo.
Post-Doctoral Fellow: Jing-Ni Ou, PhD

Key Publications:

Shaw E, Stevens AM (2008) Are pediatric autoimmune diseases primarily genetic diseases? Current Opinion in Rheumatology. 20(5): 589-594.

Mozaffarian, N, Stevens, AM (2007) Maternally-mediated Neonatal Autoimmunity. For: "Questions and Controversies in Neonatology Series: Hematology, Immunology and Infectious Disease Volume".

Stevens, AM (2006) Microchimeric cells in systemic lupus erythematosus: targets or innocent bystanders? Lupus. 2006;15(11):820-826.

Stevens, AM (2005) Maternal Microchimerism - Allogeneic Target of Autoimmune Disease, or Normal Biology? Clinical and Applied Immunology Reviews. 5:325-338

Dai ZP, Turtle CJ, Booth GC, Riddell SR, Gooley TA, Stevens AM, Spies T, and Groh V (2009) Normally Occurring NKG2D+CD4+ T Cells are Immunosuppressive and Inversely Correlated with Disease Activity in Juvenile-Onset Lupus. J Experimental Medicine. In Press.

Stevens AM, Hermes HM, Kiefer MM, Rutledge JC, Nelson JL (2008) Chimeric Maternal Cells with Tissue-Specific Antigen Expression and Morphology are Common in Normal Infant Tissues. Pediatric and Developmental Pathology. Oct 21:1. [Epub ahead of print].

Mozaffarian N, Wiedeman AE, Stevens AM (2008) Failure of antigen presenting cells to express programmed death ligand-1 during active systemic lupus erythematosus. Rheumatology. 47(9):1335-1341.

Nelson, JL, Gillespie KM, Lambert NC, Stevens AM, Loubiere LS, Rutledge JC, Leisenring WM, Erickson TD, Yan, Z, Mullarkey ME, Boespflug ND, Bingley PJ, Gale EAM (2007) Maternal microchimerism in peripheral blood in type 1 diabetes and pancreatic islet beta cell microchimerism. Proc Nat Acad Sci. 104(5):1637-1642.

Stevens, AM, Tsao, BP, Hahn, BH, Guthrie, K, Gazinski, A, Lambert, NC, Porter, AJ, Tylee, TA, Nelson, JL (2005) Maternal HLA Class II Compatibility in Males with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Arthritis and Rheumatism. 52(9):2768-2773.

Stevens, AM, Hermes, HM, Rutledge, J, Buyon, J, Nelson, JL (2003) Maternal Myocardial Cells in Neonatal Lupus Congenital Heart Block. The Lancet. 362:1617-1623.

Honors & Awards:

1990, 1991: American College of Rheumatology Medical Student travel awards

1991: American College of Rheumatology Medical Student Achievement Award

2002: Award for Exemplary Poster Presentation. Society for Women's Health, Third Annual Conference on Sex and Gene Expression.

2002: Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies Travel Award

2006: University of Washington General Clinical Research Center Young Investigator of the Year