Partners MS Center
Sally C. Kent , Ph.D

Instructor in Neurology

Center for Neurologic Diseases
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School, NRB641
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur
Boston, MA 02115

Tel: (617) 525-5330
Fax: (617) 525-5333

Email:skent@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Education & Training

  • 1985-1991 Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University of Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL
  • 1991-1994 Postdoctoral fellow, University of Rochester Cancer Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rochester, NY
  • 1994-1997 Dept. of Neurology, Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Research & Professional Experience

  • 1997-Present Instructor, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
  • 2002-Present Associate Immunologist, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA

Research Interests

  • Regulatory NKT cell function in human Type 1 diabetes in the periphery and pancreatic draining lymph nodes.
  • Human autoantigen reactive T cells and regulation of these cells in Type 1 diabetes in the periphery and from pancreatic draining lymph nodes. This includes immune monitoring of Type 1 diabetics treated with oral insulin in the Diabetes Prevention Trial-1.
  • Initiation of diabetes in a T cell receptor transgenic ‘humanized’ NOD mouse model.
  • Immune monitoring of b -islet cell transplanted Type 1 diabetics.

Publications


Original Publications:

1. Ludlum, D. B., Kent, S. and J. R. Mehta. 1986. Formation of O6-ethylthioethylguanine in DNA by reaction with the sulfur mustard, chloroethyl sulfide, and its apparent lack of repair by O6-alkylguanine-DNA transferase. Carcinogenesis. 7:1203-1206.

2. Fischer, G.*, Kent, S. C.*, Joseph, L., Green, D. R. and D.W. Scott. 1994. Lymphoma models for B-Cell Activation and Tolerance. X. Anti-µ-mediated growth arrest and apoptosis of murine B-cell lymphomas is prevented by stabilization of myc. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 179: 221-228. *co-first authors

3. Fukaura, H., Kent, S. C., Pietrusewicz, M. J., Khoury, S. J., Weiner, H. L., and D. A. Hafler. 1996. Antigen-specific TGFbeta 1 secretion with bovine myelin oral tolerization in multiple sclerosis. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 778: 251-257.

4. Fukaura, H., Kent, S. C., Pietrusewicz, M. J., Khoury, S. J., Weiner, H. L., and D. A. Hafler. 1996. Induction of circulating myelin basic protein and proteolipid protein-specific transforming growth factor-β1-secreting Th3 T cells by oral administration of myelin in multiple sclerosis patients. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 98: 70-77.

5. Kent, S. C., Fukaura, H., Pietrusewicz, M. J., Khoury, S. J., Weiner, H. L., and D. A. Hafler. 1996. Oral administration of myelin induces antigen specific TGF-β1 secreting T cells in multiple sclerosis patients. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 815: 412-422.

6. Wilson, S.B.*, Kent, S.C.*, Patton, K.T., Orban, T., Jackson, R.A., Exley. M., Porcelli, S., Schatz, D.A., Atkinson, M.A., Balk, S.P., Strominger, J.L. and D.A. Hafler. 1998. Extreme Th1 bias of invariant Vα24JαQ T cells in Type 1 Diabetes. Nature. 391:177-181. *co-first authors

7. Mandelboim, O., Kent, S., Davis, D. M., Wilson, S. B., Okazaki, T., Jackson, R., Hafler, D. and J. L. Strominger. 1998. NK activating receptors trigger interferon-γ secretion from T cells and NK cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 95: 3798-3803.

8. She, J.-X., Ellis, T. M., Wilson, S. B., Wasserfall, C. H., Marron, M., Reimsneider, S., Kent, S. C., Hafler, D. A., Neuberg, D. S., Muir, A., Strominger, J. L. and M. A. Atkinson. 1999. Heterophile antibodies segregate in families and are associated with protection from type 1 diabetes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 96:8116-8119.

9. Milner. J. D.*, Kent, S. C.*, Ashley, T. A., Wilson, S. B., Strominger, J. L. and D. A. Hafler. 1999. Differential responses of invariant Vα24JαQ T cells and MHC class II restricted CD4+ T cells to dexamethasone. Journal of Immunology. 163: 2522-2529. *co-first authors

10. Kent, S. C., Hafler, D. A., Strominger, J. L. and S. B. Wilson. 1999. Noncanonical Vα24JαQ T cells with conservative α chain CDR3 region amino acid substitutions are restricted by CD1d. Human Immunology. 60: 1080-1089.

11. Wilson, S.B., Kent, S.C., Horton, H., Bollyky, P.L., Hafler, D.A., Strominger, J.L. and M.Byrne. 2000. Transcriptional profiling of Vα24JαQ T cells uncovers multiple differences between IL-4 secreting and IL-4-null clones. 2000. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 97:7411-7416.

12. Brandvold, K. A., Ewert, D. L., Kent, S. C., Neiman, P. and A. Ruddell. 2001. Blocked B cell differentiation and emigration support the early growth of myc-induced lymphomas. Oncogene 20: 3226-3234.

13. Orban, T.*, Kent, S. C.*, Malik, P., Milner, J. D., Schuster, K., Jackson, R. A. and D. A. Hafler. 2001. Heterophile antibodies indicate progression of autoimmunity in human Type 1 diabetes mellitus before clinical onset. Autoimmunity 34: 247-264. *co-first authors

14. Viglietta, V., Kent S. C., Orban, T., and D. A. Hafler. 2002. GAD65-reactive T cells are activated in patients with autoimmune type 1a diabetes. Journal of Clinical Investigation 109: 895-903.

15. Brigl, M., Bry, L., Kent, S. C., Gumperz, J. E. and M. B. Brenner. 2003. Mechanism of CD1d-restricted Natural Killer T cell activation during microbial infection. Nature Immunology 4: 1230-1237.

16. Kent, S. C.,* Chen, Y.,* Bregoli, L., Clemmings, S. M., Kenyon, N. S., Ricordi, C., Hering, B. J., and D. A. Hafler. 2005. Expanded T cells from pancreatic lymph nodes of type 1 diabetic recognize an insulin epitope. Nature 435: 224-228. *co-first authors

17. Quintana, F. J., Gerber, D., Kent, S. C., Cohen, I. R., and Y. Shai. 2005. HIV-1 Fusion Peptide Targets the TCR and Inhibits Antigen Specific T-Cell Activation. Journal of Clinical Investigation 115: 2140-2158.

18. Kent, S.C., Chen, Y., Clemmings, S. M., Viglietta, V., Kenyon, N., Ricordi, C., Hering, B. J., and D. A. Hafler. 2005. Loss of IL-4 secretion from human Type 1a diabetic pancreatic draining lymph node NKT cells. Journal of Immunology 175: 4458-4464.

19. van den Elzen, P., Garg, S., Leon, L., Brigl, M., Leadbetter, E. A., Gumperz, J. E., Dascher, C. C., Cheng, T.-Y., Sacks, F. M., Illarionov, P. A., Besra, G. S., Kent, S. C., Moody, D. B., and M. B. Brenner. 2005. Apolipoprotein-mediated pathways of lipid antigen presentation. Nature 437: 906-910.

20. Hafler, D. A., Kent, S. C., Chen, Y., Bregoli, L., Clemmings, S. M., Hering B. J., Kenyon, N. S., and C. Ricordi. 2005. Insulin auto-antigenicity in type 1 diabetes (Reply). Nature 438: E5-E6.

21. Kis, J., Engelmann, P., Farkas, K., Richman, G., Eck, S., Lolley, J., Jalahej, H., Borowiec, M., Kent, S. C., Treszl, A., and T. Orban. 2007. Reduced CD4+ subset and Th1 bias of the human iNKT cells in type 1
diabetes mellitus. Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 81: 654-662.

Book Chapters

1. Scott, D. W., Warner, G. L., Yao, X.-R., and S. C. Kent. 1994. Pathways and Regulation of B-Cell Responsiveness and Tolerance. In R. D. Granstein (ed.), Chemical Immunology, 58: 34-59, Karger Press, N. Y.

2. Kent, S. C., Viglietta, V., and D. A. Hafler. Cytokines and Human Type 1 Diabetes. 2001. In V. Kuchroo, D. A. Hafler, N. Sarvetnick (eds.), Cytokines and Autoimmunity, The Humana Press, pp.295-316.

 
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