Brian M. Iritani, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Vice Chair of Academic Affairs
D.V.M., Washington State University 1988
Ph.D., Immunology, University of Washington 1997
Clinical Residency, Lab Animal Medicine, University of Washington 1996
Research Post-doctoral Fellow, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 1999
P: 206-221-3932
F: 206-685-3006
E: biritani@uw.edu
Research, Service, and Training Interests
Dr. Iritani is Vice Chair of Academic Affairs. His major clinical interests include small animal medicine and surgery. He is currently a Senior Clinical Veterinarian, Director of Surgery, Co-Director of Training Programs, Director of Clerkship Training for Veterinary Students. He is a member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Consortium, Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (NORC), Diabetes and Endocrine Research Center (DERC), Solid tumor and translational research team (STTR), Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) Graduate Program, Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD). Dr. Iritani serves on numerous NIH Study Sections in Basic Immunology and is on the Editorial Review Boards for Comparative Medicine and JAALAS.
The Iritani lab studies the normal functions of oncoproteins and other signaling molecules in the development and function of immune cells, and how when dysregulated, aberrant expression or activity can result in immunodeficiency diseases or cancer. Among the oncoproteins the Iritani lab studies include the Ras GTPases, Raf kinase, and the Myc family of transcriptional regulators. More recently the Iritani lab has been utilizing murine models to understand how loss-of-function variants in the genes encoding the metabolic regulator Fnip1 and the actin regulatory protein Hem1 result in Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEI) in children.
Complete Bibliography
Selected Publications
Lymphocyte Signaling
Modulation of T Lymphocyte Development, Growth, and Cell Size by the Myc-Antagonist and Transcriptional Repressor Mad1.
Iritani, B.M., Delrow, J., Grandori, C., Klacking, M., Gomez, I., Carlos, L.S., and Eisenman, R.N. (2002) EMBO J, 21(18) 4820-4830.
Myc Stimulates B Cell Development and Amplifies Calcium Signaling.
Habib, T., Park, H., Tsang, M., de Alboran, I., Nicks, A., Wilson, L., Knoepfler, P., Andrews, S., Rawlings., D., Eisenman, R.N., and Iritani, B.M. (2007) The Journal of Cell Biology, 179(4)717-731.
Helicobacter is Required for Inflammation and Colon Cancer in SMAD3-Deficient Mice. Cancer Price, L.M, Treuting, P., Zeng, W., Tsang, M., Bielefeldt-Ohmann, H., and B.M. Iritani (2006) Research, 66(2) 828-38.
Calcineurin sets the bandwidth for discrimination of signals during thymocyte development. Gallo, E., Winslow, M.M., Cante-Barrett, K., Radermacher, A.N., Ho, L., McGinnis, L.M., Iritani, B.M., Neilson, J.R., and Crabtree, G.R. (2007) Nature, 450(29)731-736.
Fnip1 and Inborn Errors of Immunity
Disruption of Fnip1 reveals a novel metabolic checkpoint controlling B lymphocyte development. Park, H., Staehling-Hampton, K., Tsang, M., Appleby, M., Brunkow, M.E., Margineantu, D., Hockenbery, D.M., Habib, T., Liggitt, H.D., Carlson, G., and B.M. Iritani (2012). Immunity, May 25;36(5):769-81. Epub 2012 May 17.
The metabolic regulator Fnip1 is crucial for iNKT cell development. .
Park, H., Tsang, M., Iritani, BM*, and MJ Bevan* (2014). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 13;111(19):7066-71. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1406473111. Epub 2014 Apr 30. PMID: 24785397. * co-corresponding authors
Fnip1 regulates skeletal muscle fiber type specification, fatigue resistance, and susceptibility to muscular dystrophy. Reyes, NL., Banks, GL., Tsang, M., Margineantu, D., Gu, H., Djokovic, D., Chan, J., Torres, M., Liggitt, HD., Hirenallur-S., DK., Hockenbery, DM., Raftery, D., and B.M. Iritani (2015). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Jan 13;112(2):424-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1413021112. Epub 2014 Dec 29. PMID: 25548157.
Folliculin Interacting Protein-1 Maintains Metabolic Homeostasis During B cell Development by Modulating AMPK, mTORC1, and Tfe3
Ramirez-Komo, J.A., Iwata, T., Park, H., Tsang, M., Kang, J., Cui, K., Kwong, W., James, R.G., Baba, M., Schmidt, L.S., and B.M. Iritani (2019). The Journal of Immunology. Dec 1;203(11):2899-2908. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1900395. Epub 2019 Nov 1.
Loss of Fnip1 alters kidney developmental transcriptional program and synergizes with TSC1 loss to promote mTORC1 activation and renal cyst formation.
Centini, R., Tsang, M., Iwata, T., Park, H., Delrow, J., Margineantu, D., Iritani, B.M., Gu, H., Liggitt, HD., Kang, J., Kang, L., Hockenbery, DM., Raftery, D., and B.M. Iritani (2018). PlosOne. Jun 13;13(6):e0197973.
Metabolism meets Immunodeficiency Disease.
Brian Iritani (2021). Blood 137(4):436-437.
Hem1 and Inborn Errors of Immunity
A point mutation in the murine Hem1 gene reveals an essential role for Hematopoietic Protein 1 in lymphopoiesis and innate immunity. Park,H., Staehling-Hampton, K., Brunkow, M.E., Habib, T., Appleby, M., Zhang,Y., Ramsdell, F., Freie, B., Tsang, M., Liggitt, H.D., Carlson, G., Frevert, C., and B.M. Iritani (2008). The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 205(12)2899-913.
Integrative Network Analysis Identifies Key Regulators of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Pathogenesis.
Lauren A. Peters, Jacqueline Perrigoue, Arthur Mortha, Alina Iuga, Won-min Song, Eric M. Neiman , Sean Llewyllan, Brian A. Kidd, Shannon Telesco, Aleksandar Stojmirovic, Jocelyn Sendecki, Shameer Khader, Riccardo Miotta, Ke Hao, Bojan Losic ,Hardik Shah, Yongzhong Zhao, Antonio Di Narzo, Minghui Wang, Jeremiah Faith, Miriam Merad, Joel T. Dudley, Andrew Kasarskis, Carrie Brodmerkel, Mark Curran, Anuk Das, Joshua R. Friedman, Yoshinori Fukui, Mary Beth Humphrey, Brian M. Iritani, et al (2017) Nature Genetics, online Sept 11, 2017 doi:10.1038/ng.3947
The actin-regulatory protein Hem-1 is essential for alveolar macrophage development.
Suwankitwat. N., Libby, S., Liggitt, HD., Avalos, A., Ruddell, A., Rosch, JW, Park, H., and B. M. Iritani (2021). The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Apr 5;218(4):e20200472. doi: 10.1084/jem.20200472.
Hem-1 regulates T-independent antibody production, protective immunity, and limits autoantibody production in a B cell specific manner.
Avalos, A., Teitsort, J., Suwankitwat, N., Jackson, S., Woods. J, Christodoulou, A., Morrill, C., Liggitt, HD, Zhu, C., Li, QZ., Bui., K., Park,H., and B.M. Iritani (2022). The Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight, May 9;7(9):e153597.doi10.1172/jci.insight.153595. PMID:3553195
Hem1 Inborn Errors of Immunity: Waving Goodbye to Coordinated Immunity in Mice and Humans. Christodoulou, A., Tsai, J., Suwankitwat., N., Anderson, A., and B.M. Iritani (2024). Frontiers in Immunology, Volume 15 – 2024