Editor
Alessandro Didonna
  • Faculty, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, East Carolina University
Research fields
  • Neuroscience
Personal information

Education

Ph.D. in Functional and Structural Genomics, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), 2010

Lab information

The Didonna Lab aims at understanding the mechanistic connection between aberrant immune responses and neurodegenerative processes in chronic human diseases.
https://alessandrodidonna.wixsite.com/didonnalab

Research focus

Neurodegeneration; Multiple Sclerosis; Autoimmunity; Protein Misfolding; Movement Disorders.

Publications

1. Carver JJ, Pugh BA, Lau KM, Didonna A. Lipid metabolism is dysregulated in endocrine glands upon autoimmune demyelination. Journal of Neuroimmunology. 2024 May 7:391:578366. PMID: 38733741
2. Carver JJ, Lau KM, Puckett AE, Didonna A. Autoimmune demyelination alters hypothalamic transcriptome and endocrine function. Journal of Neuroinflammation. 2024 Jan 4;21(1):12. PMID: 38178091
3. Carver JJ, Didonna A. Quantification of autoreactive antibodies in mice upon experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Journal of Visualized Experiments. 2023 Dec 1:(202). PMID: 38108416
4. Ma Q, Augusto DG, Montero-Martin G, Caillier SJ, Osoegawa K, Cree BAC, Hauser SL, Didonna A, Hollenbach JA, Norman PJ, Fernandez-Vina M and Oksenberg JR. High-resolution DNA methylation screening of the major histocompatibility complex in multiple sclerosis. Frontiers in Neurology. 2023 14:1326738
5. Didonna A. Cysteine carboxyethylation: a novel post-translational modification associated with autoimmune arthritis. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy. 2023 Jul 19;8(1):274. PMID: 37463891
6. Ma Q, Shams H, Didonna A, Baranzini SE, Cree BAC, Hauser SL, Henry RG, Oksenberg JR. Integration of epigenetic and genetic profiles identifies multiple sclerosis disease-critical cell types and genes. Communications Biology. 2023 Mar 30;6(1):342. PMID: 36997638
7. Ma Q, Didonna A. Ataxin-1 controls the expression of specific noncoding RNAs in B cells upon autoimmune demyelination. Immunology & Cell Biology. 2023 Apr;101(4):358-367. PMID: 36681886
8. Ma Q, Oksenberg JR, Didonna A. Epigenetic control of ataxin-1 in multiple sclerosis. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. 2022 Aug;9(8):1186-1194. PMCID: PMC9380165
9. Shams H, Shao X, Santaniello A, Kirkish G, Harroud A, Ma Q, MS-EPIC Team, Schaefer C, McCauley JL, Cree BAC, Didonna A, Baranzini SE, Patsopoulos NA, Hauser SL, Barcellos LF, Henry RG, Oksenberg JR. Polygenic risk score association with multiple sclerosis susceptibility and phenotype in Europeans. Brain. 2022 Mar 7;awac092. PMID: 35253861
10. Shams H, Matsunaga A, Ma Q, Didonna A. Methylation at a conserved lysine residue modulates tau functions and its sub-cellular localization. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. 2022 Feb 26;120:103707. PMID: 35231567
11. Shams H, Hollenbach JA, Matsunaga A, Mofrad MRK, Oksenberg JR, Didonna A. A short HLA-DRA isoform binds the HLA-DR2 heterodimer on the outer domain of the peptide-binding site. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. 2022 Apr 15;719:109156. PMCID: PMC9007275
12. Frederik NM, Pooler MM, Shah P, Didonna A, Opal A. Pharmacological Perturbation reveals deficits in the dopamine indirect pathway in Thap1 conditional knockout mice. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. 2021 Dec; 8(12):2302-2308. PMCID: PMC8670318
13. Ma Q, Caillier SJ, UCSF MS-EPIC, Cree B, Hauser SL, Didonna A, Oksenberg JR. Specific hypomethylation programs underpin B cell activation in early multiple sclerosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 2021 Dec 21;118(51):e2111920118. PMCID: PMC8713784
14. Ma Q, Didonna A. The novel multiple sclerosis susceptibility gene ATXN1 regulates B cell receptor signaling in B-1a cells. Molecular Brain. 2021 2021 Jan 21; 14:19. PMCID: PMC7819313
15. Ma Q, Matsunaga A, Ho B, Oksenberg JR, Didonna A. Oligodendrocyte-specific Argonaute profiling identifies microRNAs associated with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Journal of Neuroinflammation. 2020 Oct 12; 17(1):297. PMID: 33046105. PMCID: PMC7552381
16. Didonna A. Tau at the interface between neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. Genes and Immunity. 2020 11; 21(5):288-300. PMID: 33011744
17. Didonna A, Damotte V, Shams H, Matsunaga A, Caillier SJ, Dandekar R, Misra MK, Mofrad MRK, Oksenberg JR, Hollenbach JA. A splice acceptor variant in HLA-DRA affects the conformation and cellular localization of the class II DR alpha-chain. Immunology. 2021 Feb; 162(2):194-207. PMID: 32986852
18. Didonna A, Canto Puig E, Ma Q, Matsunaga A, Ho B, Caillier SJ, Shams H, Lee N, Hauser SL, Tan Q, Zamvil SS, Oksenberg JR. Ataxin-1 regulates B cell function and the severity of autoimmune experimental encephalomyelitis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 2020 09 22; 117(38):23742-23750. PMID: 32878998. PMCID: PMC7519225
19. Renschen A, Matsunaga A, Oksenberg JR, Santaniello A, Didonna A. TopoDB: a novel multifunctional management system for laboratory animal colonies. Database (Oxford). 2020 Jan 01; 2020. PMID: 33206961. PMCID: PMC7673335
20. Didonna A, Opal P. The role of neurofilament aggregation in neurodegeneration: lessons from rare inherited neurological disorders. Molecular Neurodegeneration. 2019 May 16; 14(1):19. PMID: 31097008. PMCID: PMC6524292
21. Didonna A, Cantó E, Shams H, Isobe N, Zhao C, Caillier SJ, Condello C, Yamate-Morgan H, Tiwari-Woodruff SK, Mofrad MRK, Hauser SL, Oksenberg JR. Sex-specific Tau methylation patterns and synaptic transcriptional alterations are associated with neural vulnerability during chronic neuroinflammation. Journal of Autoimmunity. 2019 Jul; 101:56-69. PMID: 31010726. PMCID: PMC6561733
22. Didonna A, Canto E. Genetic Factors in Neuroimmune Diseases. In: Neuroimmune Diseases. Contemporary Clinical Neuroscience. Hiroshi Mitoma and Mario Manto (Editors), Springer, Cham. 2019; 357-386.
23. Edamakanti CR, Do J, Didonna A, Martina M, Opal P. Mutant ataxin1 disrupts cerebellar development in spinocerebellar ataxia type 1. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2018 Mar 13. PMID: 29533923
24. Frederick NM, Shah PV, Didonna A, Langley MR, Kanthasamy AG, Opal P. Loss of the dystonia gene Thap1 leads to transcriptional deficits that converge on common pathogenic pathways in dystonic syndromes. Human Molecular Genetics. 2018 Dec 26. PMID: 30590536
25. Canto E, Isobe N, Didonna A, Hauser SL, Oksenberg JR. Aberrant STAT phosphorylation signaling in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from multiple sclerosis patients. Journal of Neuroinflammation. 2018 Mar 07; 15(1):72. PMID: 29514694. PMCID: PMC5840794
26. Didonna A, Oksenberg JR. Multiple Sclerosis: Perspectives in Treatment and Pathogenesis. Ian
27. S. Zagon and Patricia J. McLaughlin (Editors). The Genetics of Multiple Sclerosis. 2017; 3-16.
28. Guglielmetti C, Najac C, Didonna A, Van der Linden A, Ronen SM, Chaumeil MM. Hyperpolarized 13C MR metabolic imaging can detect neuroinflammation in vivo in a multiple sclerosis murine model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 2017 Aug 15; 114(33):E6982-E6991. PMID: 28760957. PMCID: PMC5565402
29. Didonna A, Opal P. Advances in Sequencing Technologies for Understanding Hereditary Ataxias: A Review. JAMA Neurology. 2016 Dec 01; 73(12):1485-1490. PMID: 27749953. PMCID: PMC5513693
30. Didonna A, Cekanaviciute E, Oksenberg JR, Baranzini SE. Immune cell-specific transcriptional profiling highlights distinct molecular pathways controlled by Tob1 upon experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Scientific Reports. 2016 Aug 22; 6:31603. PMID: 27546286. PMCID: PMC4992865
31. Didonna A. Preclinical Models of Multiple Sclerosis: Advantages and Limitations Towards Better Therapies. Current Medicinal Chemistry. 2016; 23(14):1442-59. PMID: 27048376
32. Didonna A, Benetti F. Post-translational modifications in neurodegeneration. AIMS Biophysics. 2016; 1(3):27-49.
33. Didonna A, Isobe N, Caillier SJ, Li KH, Burlingame AL, Hauser SL, Baranzini SE, Patsopoulos NA, Oksenberg JR. A non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism associated with multiple sclerosis risk affects the EVI5 interactome. Human Molecular Genetics. 2015 Dec 15; 24(24):7151-8. PMID: 26433934. PMCID: PMC5007634
34. Didonna A, Venturini AC, Hartman K, Vranac T, Curin Šerbec V, Legname G. Characterization of four new monoclonal antibodies against the distal N-terminal region of PrP(c). PeerJ. 2015; 3:e811. PMID: 25802800. PMCID: PMC4369333
35. Didonna A, Oksenberg JR. Genetic determinants of risk and progression in multiple sclerosis. Clinical Chimica Acta. 2015 Sep 20; 449:16-22. PMID: 25661088. PMCID: PMC4524789
36. Didonna A, Opal P. The promise and perils of HDAC inhibitors in neurodegeneration. Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2015 Jan; 2(1):79-101. PMID: 25642438. PMCID: PMC4301678
37. Venkatraman A, Hu YS, Didonna A, Cvetanovic M, Krbanjevic A, Bilesimo P, Opal P. The histone deacetylase HDAC3 is essential for Purkinje cell function, potentially complicating the use of HDAC inhibitors in SCA1. Human Molecular Genetics. 2014 Jul 15; 23(14):3733-45. PMID: 24594842. PMCID: PMC4065149
38. Mahammad S, Murthy SN, Didonna A, Grin B, Israeli E, Perrot R, Bomont P, Julien JP, Kuczmarski E, Opal P, Goldman RD. Giant axonal neuropathy-associated gigaxonin mutations impair intermediate filament protein degradation. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2013 May; 123(5):1964-75. PMID: 23585478. PMCID: PMC3635735
39. Didonna A. Prion protein and its role in signal transduction. Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters. 2013 Jun; 18(2):209-30. PMID: 23479001
40. Didonna A, Sussman J, Benetti F, Legname G. The role of Bax and caspase-3 in doppel-induced apoptosis of cerebellar granule cells. Prion. 2012 Jul 01; 6(3):309-16. PMID: 22561161. PMCID: PMC3399532
41. Didonna A, Vaccari L, Bek A, Legname G. Infrared microspectroscopy: a multiple-screening platform for investigating single-cell biochemical perturbations upon prion infection. ACS Chemical Neuroscience. 2011 Mar 16; 2(3):160-74. PMID: 22778865. PMCID: PMC3369737
42. Didonna A, Legname G. Aberrant ERK 1/2 complex activation and localization in scrapie-infected GT1-1 cells. Molecular Neurodegeneration. 2010 Aug 09; 5:29. PMID: 20696038. PMCID: PMC2928767
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