Rajko Reljic

Professor of Immunology

St George's University of London (SGUL), UK

Tel: +44 (0)208 725 0554

Email: rreljic@sgul.ac.uk

VALIDATE Role:

Network Management Board Member 2017+, Network Investigator

Research Keywords:

TB, vaccines, immunotherapy, aerosol, immunity

Biography:

Dr Reljic’s TB work involves the use of several mucosal vaccine delivery systems, including nanoparticles, inactivated bacterial spores, liposomes and self-adjuvanting recombinant immune complexes. The main feature of these new vaccine candidates is that they are designed to target specific cell surface receptors and tissues in the mucosa of the lung in order to improve vaccine delivery and induce appropriate immune responses. He is the scientific lead and the Coordinator of the EMI-TB consortium, a European Union-funded mucosal TB vaccine initiative that involves 14 research groups from Europe and Africa. Dr Reljic is also focused on immunotherapy as an adjunct treatment for TB, especially in drug-resistant disease. This involves the use of Th1 cytokines (i.e. interferon gamma) and monoclonal antibodies, and in particular IgA. In collaborative studies, he has demonstrated that a novel human IgA antibody substantially reduced TB in human CD89 receptor transgenic mice and this antibody is currently being evaluated against multi-drug (MDR) TB infection.

Related Websites:

Profile page at SGUL

Key Publications:

Reljic, R., L. Sibley, J. M. Huang, I. Pepponi, A. Hoppe, H. A. Hong, and S. M. Cutting. 2013. Mucosal vaccination against tuberculosis using inert bioparticles. Infection and immunity 81: 4071-4080.

Stylianou, E., G. R. Diogo, I. Pepponi, C. van Dolleweerd, M. A. Arias, C. Locht, C. C. Rider, L. Sibley, S. M. Cutting, A. Loxley, J. K. Ma, and R. Reljic. 2014. Mucosal delivery of antigen-coated nanoparticles to lungs confers protective immunity against tuberculosis infection in mice. European journal of immunology 44: 440-449.

Pepponi, I., G. R. Diogo, E. Stylianou, C. J. van Dolleweerd, P. M. Drake, M. J. Paul, L. Sibley, J. K. Ma, and R. Reljic. 2014. Plant-derived recombinant immune complexes as self-adjuvanting TB immunogens for mucosal boosting of BCG. Plant biotechnology journal. (2014) 12; 840-50.

Diogo GR, Reljic R. Development of a new tuberculosis vaccine: is there value in the mucosal approach? 2014. Immunotherapy. 6: 1001-13

Balu S, Reljic R, Lewis MJ, Pleass RJ, McIntosh R, van Kooten C, van Egmond M, Challacombe S, Woof JM, Ivanyi J. A novel human IgA monoclonal antibody protects against tuberculosis. J Immunol. 2011, 186: 3113-9.