Karin Pelka, PhD
Assistant Investigator
Gladstone Institutes
School of Medicine

By characterizing the cells in these hubs, and the gene networks that are turned on in these cells, she aims to uncover novel ways to harness the immune system in the fight against cancer.

• Spatial analysis of human lung cancer reveals organized immune hubs enriched for stem-like CD8 T cells and associated with immunotherapy response.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2023 Chen JH, Nieman LT, Spurrell M, Jorgji V, Richieri P, Xu KH, Madhu R, Parikh M, Zamora I, Mehta A, Nabel CS, Freeman SS, Pirl JD, Lu C, Meador CB, Barth JL, Sakhi M, Tang AL, Sarkizova S, Price C, …
• Mitochondrial single-cell ATAC-seq for high-throughput multi-omic detection of mitochondrial genotypes and chromatin accessibility.
  Nature protocols 2023 Lareau CA, Liu V, Muus C, Praktiknjo SD, Nitsch L, Kautz P, Sandor K, Yin Y, Gutierrez JC, Pelka K, Satpathy AT, Regev A, Sankaran VG, Ludwig LS
• Combined PD-1, BRAF and MEK inhibition in BRAFV600E colorectal cancer: a phase 2 trial.
  Nature medicine 2023 Tian J, Chen JH, Chao SX, Pelka K, Giannakis M, Hess J, Burke K, Jorgji V, Sindurakar P, Braverman J, Mehta A, Oka T, Huang M, Lieb D, Spurrell M, Allen JN, Abrams TA, Clark JW, Enzinger AC, Enzinger …
• Targeting TBK1 to overcome resistance to cancer immunotherapy.
  Nature 2023 Sun Y, Revach OY, Anderson S, Kessler EA, Wolfe CH, Jenney A, Mills CE, Robitschek EJ, Davis TGR, Kim S, Fu A, Ma X, Gwee J, Tiwari P, Du PP, Sindurakar P, Tian J, Mehta A, Schneider AM, Yizhak K, …
• Listening in on Multicellular Communication in Human Tissue Immunology.
  Frontiers in immunology 2022 Albers JJ, Pelka K
• Differential pre-malignant programs and microenvironment chart distinct paths to malignancy in human colorectal polyps.
  Cell 2021 Chen B, Scurrah CR, McKinley ET, Simmons AJ, Ramirez-Solano MA, Zhu X, Markham NO, Heiser CN, Vega PN, Rolong A, Kim H, Sheng Q, Drewes JL, Zhou Y, Southard-Smith AN, Xu Y, Ro J, Jones AL, Revetta F, …
• Spatially organized multicellular immune hubs in human colorectal cancer.
  Cell 2021 Pelka K, Hofree M, Chen JH, Sarkizova S, Pirl JD, Jorgji V, Bejnood A, Dionne D, Ge WH, Xu KH, Chao SX, Zollinger DR, Lieb DJ, Reeves JW, Fuhrman CA, Hoang ML, Delorey T, Nguyen LT, Waldman J, …
• Longitudinal proteomic analysis of severe COVID-19 reveals survival-associated signatures, tissue-specific cell death, and cell-cell interactions.
  Cell reports. Medicine 2021 Filbin MR, Mehta A, Schneider AM, Kays KR, Guess JR, Gentili M, Fenyves BG, Charland NC, Gonye ALK, Gushterova I, Khanna HK, LaSalle TJ, Lavin-Parsons KM, Lilley BM, Lodenstein CL, Manakongtreecheep K…
• Interaction of TLR4 and TLR8 in the Innate Immune Response against Mycobacterium Tuberculosis.
  International journal of molecular sciences 2021 Thada S, Horvath GL, Müller MM, Dittrich N, Conrad ML, Sur S, Hussain A, Pelka K, Gaddam SL, Latz E, Slevogt H, Schumann RR, Burkert S
• Plasma proteomics reveals tissue-specific cell death and mediators of cell-cell interactions in severe COVID-19 patients.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2020 Filbin MR, Mehta A, Schneider AM, Kays KR, Guess JR, Gentili M, Fenyves BG, Charland NC, Gonye ALK, Gushterova I, Khanna HK, LaSalle TJ, Lavin-Parsons KM, Lilly BM, Lodenstein CL, Manakongtreecheep K,…
• Large-Scale Topological Changes Restrain Malignant Progression in Colorectal Cancer.
  Cell 2020 Johnstone SE, Reyes A, Qi Y, Adriaens C, Hegazi E, Pelka K, Chen JH, Zou LS, Drier Y, Hecht V, Shoresh N, Selig MK, Lareau CA, Iyer S, Nguyen SC, Joyce EF, Hacohen N, Irizarry RA, Zhang B, Aryee MJ, …
• Massively parallel single-cell mitochondrial DNA genotyping and chromatin profiling.
  Nature biotechnology 2020 Lareau CA, Ludwig LS, Muus C, Gohil SH, Zhao T, Chiang Z, Pelka K, Verboon JM, Luo W, Christian E, Rosebrock D, Getz G, Boland GM, Chen F, Buenrostro JD, Hacohen N, Wu CJ, Aryee MJ, Regev A, Sankaran …
• Lineage Tracing in Humans Enabled by Mitochondrial Mutations and Single-Cell Genomics.
  Cell 2019 Ludwig LS, Lareau CA, Ulirsch JC, Christian E, Muus C, Li LH, Pelka K, Ge W, Oren Y, Brack A, Law T, Rodman C, Chen JH, Boland GM, Hacohen N, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Aryee MJ, Buenrostro JD, Regev A, …
• Western Diet Triggers NLRP3-Dependent Innate Immune Reprogramming.
  Cell 2018 Christ A, Günther P, Lauterbach MAR, Duewell P, Biswas D, Pelka K, Scholz CJ, Oosting M, Haendler K, Baßler K, Klee K, Schulte-Schrepping J, Ulas T, Moorlag SJCFM, Kumar V, Park MH, Joosten LAB, Groh …
• Emerging Concepts in Innate Immunity.
  Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) 2018 Pelka K, De Nardo D
• Heavy Metal Enlightens Tumor Immunity.
  Cell 2017 Chen JH, Pelka K, Hacohen N
• TLR9 Deficiency Leads to Accelerated Renal Disease and Myeloid Lineage Abnormalities in Pristane-Induced Murine Lupus.
  Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2016 Bossaller L, Christ A, Pelka K, Nündel K, Chiang PI, Pang C, Mishra N, Busto P, Bonegio RG, Schmidt RE, Latz E, Marshak-Rothstein A
• TLR8 Senses Bacterial RNA in Human Monocytes and Plays a Nonredundant Role for Recognition of Streptococcus pyogenes.
  Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2015 Eigenbrod T, Pelka K, Latz E, Kreikemeyer B, Dalpke AH
• Synergistic activation of Toll-like receptor 8 by two RNA degradation products.
  Nature structural & molecular biology 2015 Geyer M, Pelka K, Latz E
• Cutting edge: the UNC93B1 tyrosine-based motif regulates trafficking and TLR responses via separate mechanisms.
  Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2014 Pelka K, Phulphagar K, Zimmermann J, Stahl R, Schmid-Burgk JL, Schmidt T, Spille JH, Labzin LI, Agrawal S, Kandimalla ER, Casanova JL, Hornung V, Marshak-Rothstein A, Höning S, Latz E
• OutKnocker: a web tool for rapid and simple genotyping of designer nuclease edited cell lines.
  Genome research 2014 Schmid-Burgk JL, Schmidt T, Gaidt MM, Pelka K, Latz E, Ebert TS, Hornung V
• RAGE is a nucleic acid receptor that promotes inflammatory responses to DNA.
  The Journal of experimental medicine 2013 Sirois CM, Jin T, Miller AL, Bertheloot D, Nakamura H, Horvath GL, Mian A, Jiang J, Schrum J, Bossaller L, Pelka K, Garbi N, Brewah Y, Tian J, Chang C, Chowdhury PS, Sims GP, Kolbeck R, Coyle AJ, …
• IRF5, IRF8, and IRF7 in human pDCs - the good, the bad, and the insignificant?
  European journal of immunology 2013 Pelka K, Latz E
• The Fer tyrosine kinase is important for platelet-derived growth factor-BB-induced signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) protein phosphorylation, colony formation in soft agar, and tumor growth in vivo.
  The Journal of biological chemistry 2013 Lennartsson J, Ma H, Wardega P, Pelka K, Engström U, Hellberg C, Heldin CH
• Getting closer to the dirty little secret.
  Immunity 2011 Pelka K, Latz E