Andrew Makrigiannis

Education

BSc (Honours), Dalhousie University
PhD, Dalhousie University
Post-doctoral Training, National Cancer Institute - Frederick (NIH)

Research Interests

Dr. Makrigiannis’ research focus is the innate immune system, and in particular Natural Killer (NK) cell recognition of virally-infected or cancerous cells via the polymorphic Ly49 family of class I MHC receptors and the related NKR-P1 receptor family, in order to understand the contribution of NK cell receptors to diseases for translation into clinical therapies.

Selected publications

For a complete list of Dr. Andrew Makrigiannis' publications, click here

Gamage GS, Medina-Luna D, Scur M, Zein HS, Dey S, Bryan S, Wight A, Dong Z, Parsons BD, Rahim MMA, Makrigiannis AP. Ly49G, but not Ly49C/I, is dispensable for diverse antigen-specific memory NK cell responses in H-2d and H-2b mice. Journal of Immunology. 2025 May 17:vkaf105. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf105. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40381992.

Scur M, Mahmoud AB, Dey S, Abdalbarri F, Stylianides I, Medina-Luna D, Gamage GS, Woblistin A, Wilson ANM, Zein HS, Stueck A, Wight A, Aguilar OA, Di Cara F, Parsons BD, Rahim MMA, Carlyle JR, Makrigiannis AP. Alveolar macrophage metabolic programming via a C-type lectin receptor protects against lipo- toxicity and cell death. Nature Communications. 2022 Nov 25;13(1):7272. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34935-w. PMID: 36433992; PMCID: PMC9700784.

Zein HS, Abou-Samra E, Scur M, Gutsol A, Hall CW, Dasgupta B, Gharibeh L, Abujamel T, Medina-Luna D, Gamage GS, Pelino TJ, Nemer M, Rahim MMA, Steinle A, Parsons BD, Makrigiannis AP. Clr-f expression regulates kidney immune and metabolic homeostasis. Scientific Reports. 2022 Mar 22;12(1):4834. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-08547-9. PMID: 35318366; PMCID: PMC8940912.

Rahim MMA, Parsons BD, Price EL, Slaine PD, Chilvers BL, Seaton GS, Wight A, Medina-Luna D, Dey S, Grandy SL, Anderson LE, Zamorano Cuervo N, Grandvaux N, Gaglia MM, Kelvin AA, Khaperskyy DA, McCormick C, Makrigiannis AP. Defective Influenza A Virus RNA Products Mediate MAVS-Dependent Upregulation of Human Leukocyte Antigen Class I Proteins. Journal of Virology. 2020 Jun 16;94(13):e00165-20. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00165-20. PMID: 32321802; PMCID: PMC7307169.

Wight A, Mahmoud AB, Scur M, Tu MM, Rahim MMA, Sad S, Makrigiannis AP. Critical role for the Ly49 family of class I MHC receptors in adaptive natural killer cell responses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U S A. 2018 Nov 6;115(45):11579-11584. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1722374115. Epub 2018 Sep 24. PMID: 30249666; PMCID: PMC6233086.

Aguilar OA, Berry R, Rahim MMA, Reichel JJ, Popović B, Tanaka M, Fu Z, Balaji GR, Lau TNH, Tu MM, Kirkham CL, Mahmoud AB, Mesci A, Krmpotić A, Allan DSJ, Makrigiannis AP*, Jonjić S*, Rossjohn J*, Carlyle JR*. A Viral Immunoevasin Controls Innate Immunity by Targeting the Prototypical Natural Killer Cell Receptor Family. Cell. 2017 Mar 23;169(1):58-71.e14. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.002. PMID: 28340350. *co-corresponding authors.

Wight A, Yang D, Ioshikhes I, Makrigiannis AP. Nucleosome Presence at AML-1 Binding Sites Inversely Correlates with Ly49 Expression: Revelations from an Informatics Analysis of Nucleosomes and Immune Cell Transcription Factors. PLoS Computational Biology. 2016 Apr 28;12(4):e1004894. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004894. PMID: 27124577; PMCID: PMC4849748.

Mahmoud AB, Tu MM, Wight A, Zein HS, Rahim MM, Lee SH, Sekhon HS, Brown EG, Makrigiannis AP. Influenza Virus Targets Class I MHC-Educated NK Cells for Immunoevasion. PLoS Pathog. 2016 Feb 29;12(2):e1005446. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005446. Erratum in: PLoS Pathogens. 2016 Nov 4;12(11):e1006021. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006021. PMID: 26928844; PMCID: PMC4771720.

Rahim MM, Chen P, Mottashed AN, Mahmoud AB, Thomas MJ, Zhu Q, Brooks CG, Kartsogiannis V, Gillespie MT, Carlyle JR, Makrigiannis AP. The mouse NKR-P1B:Clr-b recognition system is a negative regulator of innate immune responses. Blood. 2015 Apr 2;125(14):2217-27. doi: 10.1182/blood-2014-02-556142. Epub 2015 Jan 22. PMID: 25612621; PMCID: PMC4383798.

Tu MM, Mahmoud AB, Wight A, Mottashed A, Bélanger S, Rahim MM, Abou-Samra E, Makrigiannis AP. Ly49 family receptors are required for cancer immunosurveillance mediated by natural killer cells. Cancer Research. 2014 Jul 15;74(14):3684-94. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-13-3021. Epub 2014 May 6. PMID: 24802191.

Bélanger S, Tu MM, Rahim MM, Mahmoud AB, Patel R, Tai LH, Troke AD, Wilhelm BT, Landry JR, Zhu Q, Tung KS, Raulet DH, Makrigiannis AP. Impaired natural killer cell self-education and "missing-self" responses in Ly49-deficient mice. Blood. 2012 Jul 19;120(3):592-602. doi: 10.1182/blood-2012-02-408732. Epub 2012 Jun 1. Erratum in: Blood. 2013 Oct 3;122(14):2525. PMID: 22661698; PMCID: PMC3976224.

Patel R, Bélanger S, Tai LH, Troke AD, Makrigiannis AP. Effect of Ly49 haplotype variance on NK cell function and education. Journal of Immunology. 2010 Oct 15;185(8):4783-92. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1001287. Epub 2010 Sep 20. PMID: 20855875.

Tai LH, Goulet ML, Belanger S, Toyama-Sorimachi N, Fodil-Cornu N, Vidal SM, Troke AD, McVicar DW, Makrigiannis AP. Positive regulation of plasmacytoid dendritic cell function via Ly49Q recognition of class I MHC. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2008 Dec 22;205(13):3187-99. doi: 10.1084/jem.20080718. Epub 2008 Dec 15. PMID: 19075287; PMCID: PMC2605222.

Colina R, Costa-Mattioli M, Dowling RJ, Jaramillo M, Tai LH, Breitbach CJ, Martineau Y, Larsson O, Rong L, Svitkin YV, Makrigiannis AP, Bell JC, Sonenberg N. Translational control of the innate immune response through IRF-7. Nature. 2008 Mar 20;452(7185):323-8. doi: 10.1038/nature06730. Epub 2008 Feb 13. PMID: 18272964.

Carlyle JR, Mesci A, Ljutic B, Belanger S, Tai LH, Rousselle E, Troke AD, Proteau MF, Makrigiannis AP. Molecular and genetic basis for strain-dependent NK1.1 alloreactivity of mouse NK cells. Journal of Immunology. 2006 Jun 15;176(12):7511-24. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.176.12.7511. PMID: 16751398.

Proteau MF, Rousselle E, Makrigiannis AP. Mapping of the BALB/c Ly49 cluster defines a minimal natural killer cell receptor gene repertoire. Genomics. 2004 Oct;84(4):669-77. doi: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2004.05.004. PMID: 15475244.

Teaching

MICI 3115: Immunology (Coordinator)

Memberships, Services and Activities

-       Senior Scientist - Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute

-       Member – Canadian Society for Immunology

-       Member – Society for Natural Immunity

Selected awards and honours

2025                      Canadian Society for Immunology Investigator Award

2014                          Canada Research Chair, Tier II 

2009                         Canada Research Chair, Tier II 

2006                         Canadian Society for Immunology New Investigator Award 

2003                         CIHR New Investigator Salary Support Award 

Office Hours

By Appointment