José Alberola-Ila, M.D., Ph.D.

In my lab, we study how the immune system develops normally. In particular, we focus on T cells and how they function within the immune system. T cells are formed in the thymus and help protect the body against infection and disease. For the immune system to function properly, T cells must recognize you but not react against you or your tissues. So, the thymus serves as a sort of university where T cells learn how they should function in the body.

Using mouse models, we modify T cells and observe what molecules and proteins are important in the immune system’s function. By blocking the development of T cells or altering other factors associated with them, we can make changes in the way the cells respond to one another. From what we observe, we hope to learn how T cells control the immune response and develop new methods for dealing with disease.

The research in my laboratory is focused in understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate cell fate determination during immune cell development. We use mouse models to genetically alter pathways of interest and to analyze their impact on the development and function of different lymphoid cell types. Currently we are studying two different cell types with innate characteristics, iNKTs and ILCs.

Invariant natural killer T cells (NKT cells) are a conserved T cell population that behaves like innate cells, rapidly secreting cytokines when stimulated. Different subsets of iNKT cells have been reported, including NKT1, NKT2 and NKT17 cells, similar to TH1, TH2 and TH17 cells. The relationships between the different subsets, their stability, and their functional relevance remain incompletely characterized. We have shown in a mouse model (ET-2) that a small alteration in E protein activity during development results in a dramatic change in the differentiation profile of iNKTs, with a decrease in NKT1s and an increase in other subsets, including a novel type.  This model  provides a unique opportunity to test the impact of different NKT populations in normal immune responses. We are testing the impact of these changes in NKT cells on the immune response to flu, given the relevance of flu as a public health problem and the fact that activation of NKT cells has been successfully used as a novel adjuvant to increase vaccination efficiency.

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are recently identified specialized cell subsets that play critical roles in rapid responses to pathogens, and share developmental and effector programs with  conventional helper T cells. The distribution of effector subsets within these populations has important implications to the immune responses of an organism, and, therefore, the molecular mechanisms that determine the representation of each effector type within a population is a critical area of research to open new approaches to manipulation of these populations for clinical purposes. We are analyzing the role of a family of transcription factors called E proteins in the develpoment of different ILC susbsets using mouse models.

Education
M.D., University of Valencia (Spain), 1987
Ph.D., University Central, Barcelona (Spain), 1992

Honors and Awards
1988 Medical Degree’s “Extraordinary Award,” University of Valencia
1991 Visiting research fellow (EMBO short-term fellowship) at the Lymphocyte Activation Laboratory (Dr. D.A. Cantrell), Imperial Cancer Research Fund, January to April
1992 Ph.D. Degree’s “Extraordinary Award,” University of Barcelona
1996-1997 Leukemia Society of America Senior Fellow, University of Washington
1998-2002 Pew Scholar
2000-2004 Cancer Research Institute Special Fellow

Other Activities
Associate Editor, PLoS ONE, Frontiers Immunology

Memberships
American Association of Immunologists

Joined OMRF scientific staff in 2005

View more publications

Recent Publications

Isola JVV, Hense JD, Osorio CAP, Biswas S, Alberola-Ila J, Ocanas SR, Schneider A, Stout MB. Inflammation, immune cells, and cellular senescence in the aging ovary. Reproduction, 2024 May, PMID: 38744316, PMCID: PMC11301429

Isola JVV, Ocañas SR, Hubbart CR, Ko S, Mondal SA, Hense JD, Carter HNC, Schneider A, Kovats S, Alberola-Ila J, Freeman WM, Stout MB. A single-cell atlas of the aging mouse ovary. Nat Aging, 2024 January, PMID: 38200272, PMCID: PMC10798902

Fenutría R, Martinez VG, Simões I, Postigo J, Gil V, Martínez-Florensa M, Sintes J, Naves R, Cashman KS, Alberola-Ila J, Ramos-Casals M, Soldevila G, Raman C, Merino J, Merino R, Engel P, Lozano F. Transgenic expression of soluble human CD5 enhances experimentally-induced autoimmune and anti-tumoral immune responses. PLoS One 9:e84895, 2014 January, PMID: 24454761, PMCID: PMC3893160

Selected Publications

Hu T, Wang H, Simmons A, Bajaña S, Zhao Y, Kovats S, Sun XH, Alberola-Ila J. Increased level of E protein activity during invariant NKT development promotes differentiation of invariant NKT2 and invariant NKT17 subsets. J Immunol. 2013 Nov 15;191(10):5065-73. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1301546. Epub 2013 Oct 11. PMID: 24123679 PMCID: PMC3832958

Hu T, Gimferrer I, Simmons A, Wiest D, Alberola-Ila J. The Ras/MAPK pathway is required for generation of iNKT cells. PLoS One. 2011 May 10; 6 (5):e19890. PMID: 21572967 PMCID: PMC3091886

Gimferrer I, Hu T, Simmons A, Wang C, Souabni A, Busslinger M, Bender TP, Hernandez- Hoyos G, Alberola-Ila J. Regulation of GATA-3 expression during CD4 lineage differentiation. J Immunol. 2011 Apr 1; 186 (7):3892-8. PMID: 21357543. PMCID: PMC3074202

Hu T, Simmons A, Yuan J, Bender TP, Alberola-Ila J. The transcription factor c-Myb primes CD4+CD8+ immature thymocytes for selection into the iNKT lineage. Nat Immunol. 2010 May; 11 (5):435-41. PMID: 20383148 PMCID: PMC2857587

Hernández-Hoyos G, Anderson MK, Wang C, Rothenberg EV, Alberola-Ila J. GATA-3 expression is controlled by TCR signals and regulates CD4/CD8 differentiation. Immunity. 2003 Jul; 19 (1):83-94. PMID: 12871641

Hernández-Hoyos G, Sohn SJ, Rothenberg EV, Alberola-Ila J. Lck activity controls CD4/CD8 T cell lineage commitment. Immunity. 2000 Mar; 12 (3):313-22. PMID: 10755618.

Arthritis & Clinical Immunology Research Program, MS 29
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 N.E. 13th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Phone: (405) 271-2025
Fax: (405) 271-8237
E-mail: Jose-Alberola@omrf.org

For media inquiries, please contact OMRF’s Office of Public Affairs at news@omrf.org.

Kevin Boyd
Bioinfomatics Analyst

Jacob Bass
Manager Core Facility

Diana Hamilton, Ph.D.
Senior Technical Specialist

Hannah Carter
Research Technician

Justyna Luczak
Graduate Student

Brian Horton
Administrative Assistant III

News from the Alberola-Ila lab

OMRF awarded $13.1 million federal grant for metabolism research

February 4, 2021

The funding will establish the Center for Cellular Metabolism Research in Oklahoma and supports five junior researchers.

Discovery casts light on workings of the immune system

May 23, 2019

The discovery could lead to new therapeutic approaches to a wide range of illnesses, including asthma, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis.

OMRF secures $2.6 million flu grant

May 24, 2018

Alberola-Ila will investigate the role a type of white blood cell plays in mounting the body’s response against flu infection.

Will record rainfall bring more cases of West Nile?

June 16, 2015

Mosquitoes can transmit up to 1 million viruses in a single bite.

OMRF scientist finds missing protein stops immune cell development

April 12, 2010

OMRF discovery may unlock clues to autoimmune disorders

Four new scientists boost OMRF’s research programs

March 23, 2006

Four scientists from some of the nation’s leading research institutions have joined the faculty of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. The new researchers bring additional strength to OMRF’s research in cancer, genetic disorders and immunology. Susannah Rankin, Ph.D., and Dean Dawson, Ph.D., come to OMRF from Boston, where Rankin studied cell division in the Systems […]

Triple Double

August 26, 2019

For three pairs of OMRF scientists parenting twins, there’s strength in numbers