Professor Derek Doherty

A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, I completed a PhD at King's College London and postdoctoral research in the University of Washington, Seattle and University College Dublin before holding lecturing positions at NUI Maynooth and subsequently Trinity College Dublin.

  ADIPOSE-TISSUE   AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES   B-CELLS   CANCER   CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNE RESPONSES   DENDRITIC CELLS   GAMMA DELTA TCR   HEPATITIS B   HEPATITIS-C   HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA   HIV   HUMAN LIVER   IMMUNE SYSTEM   IMMUNODEFICIENCY   INFECTIOUS DISEASES   INNATE IMMUNITY   LEUKOCYTE   LIPIDS   LYMPHOCYTES   NATURAL-KILLER-CELLS

Our research is aimed at finding out how the immune system protects against or causes disease in humans and how it can be manipulated for the development of novel therapies. We are particularly interested in populations of 'innate lymphocytes' (natural killer cells, natural killer T cells, gamma/delta T cells and mucosal-associated invariant T cells), which appear to be master regulators of the immune system. Innate lymphocytes can be trained to prevent and treat infectious and immune-mediated diseases and cancers in animal models. Various innate lymphocyte populations are being targeted in clinical trials for cancer in humans, and although the results are promising, no such cellular therapy has yet received approval. In order to improve the efficacy of innate lymphocyte therapies that are currently being tested and to develop new treatments, we are investigating the molecular and cellular interactions that take place between innate lymphocytes, pathogens and other cells. We have shown that innate lymphocytes are heterogeneous with diverse effector functions including tumour cell killing, the release of cytokines that activate or suppress the actions of T cells, and contact-dependent stimulatory and regulatory interactions with monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells and B cells. In collaboration with clinical colleagues, we have found that innate lymphocyte populations are numerically and/or functionally impaired in patients with hepatitis B and C, HIV, candidiasis, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, oesophageal, stomach, colorectal, liver and lung cancer, post-operative infection and sepsis, coeliac disease, autoimmune vasculitis, antibody deficiencies and neonatal encephalopathy. Our results show that various innate lymphocyte populations can be manipulated to promote the generation of desirable immune responses for the treatment of multiple diseases and this has led to funded collaborations with three biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies, in which we are pooling our efforts to develop robust therapies for cancer, infectious and autoimmune disease.