Faculty
Keith B. Elkon, M.D.
The Mart Mannik, M.D.-Lucile T. Henderson Endowed Professor in Rheumatology
Head, Division of Rheumatology
Adjunct Professor of Immunology
OFFICE ADDRESS
University of Washington
1959 NE Pacific Street
Box 356428
Seattle, WA 98195-6428
Telephone: (206) 543-3414
FAX (206) 685-9397
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
M.B., B.Ch. (M.D. equivalent) University of the Witwatersrand Medical SchoolM.R.C.P. (Member of the Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom)
Residency, Hammersmith Hospital and Guy's Hospital, London, United Kingdom
Fellowship, Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York
CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Elkon received his medical degree from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg South Africa in 1974 and membership to the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in 1978. He received postdoctoral training at the Hammersmith Hospital, London and at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York. Dr. Elkon was formerly Director of the Graduate Program in Immunology and Professor of Medicine at Cornell. He was appointed as Head, Division of Rheumatology, at UW in August, 2001.
Dr. Elkon studies how dead and dying cells are processed in the body in lupus. In addition, he is investigating how cells grow and cause inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma. Read more about his research here...
REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS
Mevorach D, Mascarenhas J, Gershov DA, Elkon KB. Complement-dependent clearance of apoptotic cells. J Exp Med, 188: 2313-2320,1998.
Di Cristofano A, Kotsi P, Peng YP, Cordon-Cardo C, Elkon KB, Pandolfi PP. Impaired Fas response and autoimmunity in Pten (+/-) mice. Science, 285:2122-2125, 1999.
Gershov D, Kim S-J, Brot N, Elkon KB. C-reactive protein binds to apoptotic cells, protects the cells from assembly of the terminal complement components and sustains an anti-inflammatory innate immune response: implications for systemic autoimmunity, J Exp Med, 192: 1353-1363, 2000.
Kim S-J, Gershov D, Brot N, Elkon KB. I-PLA2 activation during apoptosis promotes the exposure of membrane lysophosphatidylcholine leading to binding by natural IgM antibodies and complement activation. J Exp Med, 196: 655-665, 2002.
Layer K, Lin G, Wei H, Schmucker A, Antov A, Li X, Takamatsu S, Chevassut T, Dower NA, Stang SL, Beier D, Buhlmann J, Bronson RT, Elkon KB, Stone JC, Lim B. A spontaneous mutation in RasGRP1 uncovers an essential role for Ras signaling in the maintenance of T cell tolerance. Immunity, 19: 243-255, 2003.
Philpott NJ, Nociari M, Elkon KB Falck-Pedersen, E. Adenovirus-induced maturation of dendritic cells through a tumor necrosis factor-a induction pathway mediated by phosphoinositide-3-OH kinase. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 101, 6200-6205, 2004.
Kim SJ, Elkon KB, Ma X. Transcriptional suppression of interleukin-12 gene expression following phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. Immunity 2004;21:643-53.
Martin DA, Elkon KB. Mechanisms of apoptosis. Rheum Dis Clin North Am. 2004 Aug; 30(3):441-54, vii.
Ogden CA, Kowalewski R, Peng YF, Montenegro V, Elkon KB. IgM is required for efficient complement mediated phagocytosis of apoptotic cells in vivo. Autoimmunity. 38:259-264, 2005.
Georgiev M, Agle LMA, Chu JL, Elkon KB, Ashany D. Mature dendritic cells readily break tolerance in normal mice but do not lead to disease expression. Arthritis Rheum, 52: 225-38, 2005.
Martin, D.A., and K.B. Elkon. 2005. Autoantibodies make a U-turn: the toll hypothesis for autoantibody specificity. J Exp Med 202:1465-1469, 2005.
Martin, D.A., Elkon, KB. Intracellular mammalian DNA stimulates myeloid dendritic cells to produce Type I interferons independently of MyD88 or TLR9. Arthritis Rheum, 54:951-962., 2006.
Martin DA, Elkon, KB Apoptosis, in Dubois’ Lupus Erythematosus, Edited by Wallace and Hahn, 7th Edition, in press.