Lenette Lu, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Lu is an infectious disease physician scientist. While her clinical service is centered at Parkland, she spends most of her time in lab with a long-standing interest on the host relationship with microbes. Her doctoral work in molecular virology focused on innate immune signaling in the context of viral infections. Motivated by the global health burden of tuberculosis (TB) and captivated by the persistent relationship between the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and humans, her postdoctoral work turned toward TB through the lens of humoral immunity. She showed divergent immunoglobulin profiles in patients with clinically well characterized Mtb infection and TB disease states, highlighted by differential antibody glycosylation and effector functions. Moving beyond the clinically well-established states of Mtb infection and TB disease, she demonstrated that individuals highly exposed to Mtb yet not captured by current clinical diagnostics have developed adaptive immune responses to Mtb. These observations provide immunological parameters to broaden the definition of human Mtb infection and provide an additional perspective through which the host response to Mtb can be examined. Beyond TB, the study of antibodies in infectious diseases helps construct a more in-depth framework to understand how the landscape of humoral immunity mediates the interface of host microbial interactions, and creates paths towards biomarker and vaccine development. The long-term goal is to translate observations from humans to models of disease in order to further inform and direct human studies, realizing the remarkable potential in the synergy between science and medicine.

Graduate School

Case Western Reserve University (2009), Molecular Virology

Other Post Graduate Training

Case Western Reserve University (2009)

Medical School

Case Western Reserve University (2010)

Residency

New York Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell Campus (2013), Internal Medicine

Fellowship

Massachusetts General Hospital (2015), Infectious Diseases

• Antibody Effector Functions
• Antibody Glycosylation
• Host Microbial Interactions
• Humoral Immunity
• Tuberculosis

Featured Publications

IFN-?-independent immune markers of Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure.

Lu LL, Smith MT, Yu KKQ, Luedemann C, Suscovich TJ, Grace PS, Cain A, Yu WH, McKitrick TR, Lauffenburger D, Cummings RD, Mayanja-Kizza H, Hawn TR, Boom WH, Stein CM, Fortune SM, Seshadri C, Alter G, Nat. Med. 2019 06 25 6 977-987

Beyond binding: antibody effector functions in infectious diseases.

Lu LL, Suscovich TJ, Fortune SM, Alter G, Nat. Rev. Immunol. 2018 Jan 18 1 46-61

Antibodies to Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Casadevall A, N Engl J Med 2017 01 376 3 283-285

To Be or Not Be a (Functional) Antibody Against TB.

Casadevall A, Cell 2016 Oct 167 2 306-307

A Functional Role for Antibodies in Tuberculosis.

Lu LL, Chung AW, Rosebrock TR, Ghebremichael M, Yu WH, Grace PS, Schoen MK, Tafesse F, Martin C, Leung V, Mahan AE, Sips M, Kumar MP, Tedesco J, Robinson H, Tkachenko E, Draghi M, Freedberg KJ, Streeck H, Suscovich TJ, Lauffenburger DA, Restrepo BI, Day C, Fortune SM, Alter G, Cell 2016 Oct 167 2 433-443.e14

Antibodies: Marking disease states in tuberculosis.

Kugelberg E, Nat Rev Immunol 2016 10 16 11 660

Antibody Fc Glycosylation Discriminates Between Latent and Active Tuberculosis.

Lu LL, Das J, Grace PS, Fortune SM, Restrepo BI, Alter G, J. Infect. Dis. 2020 Feb

Publisher Correction: IFN-?-independent immune markers of Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure.

Lu LL, Smith MT, Yu KKQ, Luedemann C, Suscovich TJ, Grace PS, Cain A, Yu WH, McKitrick TR, Lauffenburger D, Cummings RD, Mayanja-Kizza H, Hawn TR, Boom WH, Stein CM, Fortune SM, Seshadri C, Alter G, Nat. Med. 2019 Jun

Moving toward Tuberculosis Elimination. Critical Issues for Research in Diagnostics and Therapeutics for Tuberculosis Infection.

Keshavjee S, Amanullah F, Cattamanchi A, Chaisson R, Dobos KM, Fox GJ, Gendelman HE, Gordon R, Hesseling A, Le Van H, Kampmann B, Kana B, Khuller G, Lewinsohn DM, Lewinsohn DA, Lin PL, Lu LL, Maartens G, Owen A, Protopopova M, Rengarajan J, Rubin E, Salgame P, Schurr E, Seddon JA, Swindells S, Tobin DM, Udwadia Z, Walzl G, Srinivasan S, Rustomjee R, Nahid P, Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2019 Mar 199 5 564-571

An Inflammatory Story: Antibodies in Tuberculosis Comorbidities.

McLean MR, Lu LL, Kent SJ, Chung AW, Front Immunol 2019 10 2846

 Featured Books

Babesiosis. In Diagnostic Pathology: Infectious DIseases

Lu, L., and Milner, D. (2015). Canada, Elsevier

Anaplasmosis and Ehrlichiosis. In Diagnostic Pathology: Infectious Diseases

Lu, L., and Milner, C. (2015). Canada, Elsevier

Primary Gram-negative Respiratory Pathogen Infections. In Diagnostic Pathology: Infectious Diseases

Pecora, N., and Lu, L. (2015). Canada, Elsevier

• Disease Oriented Clinical Scholar Award
  UT Southwestern (2019)
• K08 Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award
  NIH (2017)
• Maxwell Finland Award for Excellence in Research
  Massachusetts Infectious Disease Society (2017)
• TB Gift Innovation Award
  The Broad Institute (2017)

• American Association of Immunology (2014)
• Infectious Disease Society of America (2013)