Gender	Male
E-mail	peter.heeger@mssm.edu
Education and Training	M.D., University of Pennsylvania

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Dr. Heeger is Director of the Clinical Research Program in Transplantation Institute.

Education and Training	M.D., University of Pennsylvania

Specific Clinical/Research Interest: Transplant immunology, complement, T cells

Postdoctoral Fellows: Wing Hong Kwan, PhD, Staci Leisman, MD, Deirdre Sawinski, MD

Research Personnel: Min Yang, PhD, Rajani Dinavahi, MD

Overview:
I lead a basic science lab in transplant immunology and complement/T cell interactions. I am also the Director of Transplant Research at Mount Sinai and oversee all clinical and translational transplant trials at the institution. Our group leads a multicenter international NIH trial on biomarkers as predictors of transplant outcome

Summary of Research Studies:
The research performed in my laboratory focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular immunologic events involved in rejection and tolerance of allogeneic organ grafts in mouse models and in humans. Using mouse models we assess a) how and where alloreactive T cell recognize antigens found in transplanted donor tissues and b) which induced effector mechanisms are essential for inducing graft pathology. Recently published work from our group has also delineated a new link between innate and adaptive immunity by demonstrating that alternative pathway complement components influence the strength of all T cell immune responses, including those directed at allogeneic tissues. Lessons derived from the animal studies are being ''translated'' into humans. I direct an NIH U01 multicenter trial to assess the utility of noninvasive markers to predict outcome in organ transplant recipients. The study is designed to provide a rational scientific foundation for therapeutic decision-making aimed at maximizing graft survival and minimizing toxicity in organ graft recipients.

Clinical Research Program in Transplantation Institute

Lalli PN, Strainic MG, Lin F, Medof ME, Heeger PS. C5a functions through T cell expressed C5aR to enhance T cell expansion by limiting T cell apoptosis. Blood 2008; 112: 1759-1766.

Augustine JJ, Poggio ED, Clemente M, Aeder MI, Bodziak KA, Schulak JA, Heeger PS, Hricik DE. Hemodialysis Vintage, African American Ethnicity, and Pretransplant Anti-donor Cellular Immunity in Kidney Transplant Recipients . J Am Soc Nephrol 2007; 18: 1602-1608.

Lalli PN, Strainic MG, Lin F, Medof ME, Heeger PS. Decay Accelerating Factor (DAF) can control T cell differentiation into interferon gamma producing effector cells via regulating local C5a-induced IL-12 production. Journal of Immunology 2007; 179: 5793-5802.

Poggio ED, Clemente M, Hricik DE, Heeger PS. Panel of reactive T cells (PRT) as a measure of cellular alloimmunity in kidney transplant candidates. J Am Society Nephr 2006;.

Heeger PS, Lin F, Lalli PN, Valujskikh A, Liu J, Ma Y, Medof ME. Decay Accelerating Factor modulates induction of T cell immunity. J Exp Med 2005; 201: 1523-1530.

Valujskikh A, Lantz O, Celli S, Matzinger P, Heeger PS. Cross-primed CD8 T cells mediate graft rejection via a distinct effector pathway. Nature Immunology 2002; 3: 844-851.

Heeger PS, Greenspan NS, Kuhlenschmidt S, Dejelo C, Hricik DE, Schulak JA, Tary-Lehmann M. Pretransplant frequency of donor-specific, interferon gamma-producing lymphocytes is a manifestation of immunologic memory and correlates with the risk of post transplant kidney rejection episodes. J Immunol 1999; 163: 2267-2275.