Research Faculty

Denisa Wagner, Ph.D.

 

Department Hematology/Oncology 
Phone 617-713-8300
Fax 617-713-8333
Email Denisa D. Wagner
Location Immune Disease Institute
3 Blackfan Circle # 3 Boston, MA 02115

Research Overview

The Wagner lab studies how blood cells respond rapidly to injury or stressful situations and initiate defensive or reparatory processes. Specifically, they investigate the crucial role of adhesion molecules in the response process, as well as the regulation of their expression, and their function in normal physiology and in pathological situations. The main interest is the interplay of the processes of inflammation and thrombosis.

To advance their work, Wagner and colleagues have engineered mice lacking platelet, endothelial, or leukocyte adhesion receptors. These animals permit modeling of human diseases with similar genetic defects and evaluation of the performance of mutant blood cells in live vessels through intravital microscopy. The Wagner lab studies platelet, leukocyte adhesion to the vessel wall, which can lead to thrombus formation and sometimes embolization.

Recently the lab has discovered that, during the process of venous thrombosis, neutrophils release their nuclear contents forming a web-like structure called NETs and that this process promotes platelet adhesion and thrombosis. The role of NETs and platelets is now being investigated in many disease models involving inflammation and thrombosis in the Wagner lab.

About Denisa Wagner

Dr. Wagner received her Diploma of Biochemistry from the Universite de Geneve, Switzerland and Ph.D. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She served on the faculty at the University of Rochester, NY and Tufts University School of Medicine before coming to The Immune Disease Institute and Harvard Medical School in 1994.

Key Recent Publications

  • Demers M., Krause D. S., Schatzberg D., Martinod K., Voorhees J. R., Fuchs T. A., Scadden D. T. and Wagner D. D. Cancers predispose neutrophils to release extracellular DNA traps that contribute to cancer-associated thrombosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012. Epub ahead of print,2012/07/25. 
  • Korin N., Kanapathipillai M., Matthews B. D., Crescente M., Brill A., Mammoto T., Ghosh K., Jurek S., Bencherif S. A., Bhatta D., Coskun A. U., Feldman C. L., Wagner D. D. and Ingber D. E. Shear-activated nanotherapeutics for drug targeting to obstructed blood vessels. Science. 2012.  Epub ahead of print,2012/07/07.
  • Fuchs T. A., Brill A. and Wagner D. D. Neutrophil Extracellular Trap (NET) Impact on Deep Vein Thrombosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2012;32:1777-83.
  • De Meyer S. F., Suidan G. L., Fuchs T. A., Monestier M. and Wagner D. D. Extracellular chromatin is an important mediator of ischemic stroke in mice. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2012;32:1884-91.
  • Thomas G. M., Carbo C., Curtis B. R., Martinod K., Mazo I. B., Schatzberg D., Cifuni S. M., Fuchs T. A., von Andrian U. H., Hartwig J. H., Aster R. H. and Wagner D. D. Extracellular DNA traps are associated with the pathogenesis of TRALI in humans and mice. Blood. 2012;119:6335-43.
  • Brill A., Yesilaltay A., De Meyer S. F., Kisucka J., Fuchs T. A., Kocher O., Krieger M. and Wagner D. D. Extrahepatic High-Density Lipoprotein Receptor SR-BI and ApoA-I protect against deep vein thrombosis in mice. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2012;32:1841-7.
  • Brill A., Fuchs T. A., Savchenko A. S., Thomas G. M., Martinod K., De Meyer S. F., Bhandari A. A. and Wagner D. D. Neutrophil extracellular traps promote deep vein thrombosis in mice. J Thromb Haemost. 2012;10:136-44.
  • Fuchs T. A., Bhandari A. A. and Wagner D. D. Histones induce rapid and profound thrombocytopenia in mice. Blood. 2011;118:3708-14.
  • Demers M., Ho-Tin-Noe B., Schatzberg D., Yang J. J. and Wagner D. D. Increased efficacy of breast cancer chemotherapy in thrombocytopenic mice. Cancer Res. 2011;71:1540-9.
  • Brill A., Fuchs T. A., Chauhan A. K., Yang J. J., De Meyer S. F., Kollnberger M., Wakefield T. W., Lammle B., Massberg S. and Wagner D. D. von Willebrand factor-mediated platelet adhesion is critical for deep vein thrombosis in mouse models. Blood. 2011;117:1400-7.
  • Fuchs T. A., Brill A., Duerschmied D., Schatzberg D., Monestier M., Myers D. D., Jr., Wrobleski S. K., Wakefield T. W., Hartwig J. H. and Wagner D. D. Extracellular DNA traps promote thrombosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010;107:15880-5.