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Faculty Detail    
Name MOON NAHM
  
Campus Address BBRB 614 Zip 2170
Phone  (205) 934-0163
E-mail  Nahm@uab.edu
Other websites http://www.vaccine.uab.edu/
     


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Med - Pulmonary/Allergy/Critical Care  Med - Pulmonary/Allergy/Critical Care Professor Emeritus
Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Professor Emeritus
Center  Cystic Fibrosis Research Center  Cystic Fibrosis Research Center Professor Emeritus
Center  Med - Pulmonary/Allergy/Critical Care  Lung Health Center Professor Emeritus

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Program 
Biochemistry and Structural Biology 
Cellular and Molecular Biology Program 
Immunology 
Integrative Biomedical Sciences 
Medical Scientist Training Program 
Microbiology 
Molecular and Cellular Pathology Program 
Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine 

Biographical Sketch 
Moon H. Nahm, Professor of Pathology, with secondary appointment in Microbiology, obtained both BA degree (in 1970) and MD degree (in 1974) from Washington University in St. Louis MO. In 1980, he completed both Laboratory Medicine residency training in Pathology Department and post-doctoral research training in Microbiology Department at Washington University in St. Louis MO. He was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis and University of Rochester before he joined UAB. He is the director of the Clinical Immunology Laboratory for UAB hospitals. In his research laboratory, he studies immune responses to pneumococcal polysaccharide antigens, bacterial pathogenesis, diagnosis of bacterial infections, and vaccines against bacterial infections. In addition, his laboratory serves as the Bacterial Respiratory Pathogens Reference Laboratory for the National Institue of Health and the Pneumococcal Serology Reference Laboratory for the World Health Organization.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists  Emeritus Member   
American Academy of Microbiology  Active Member   
American Association of Immunologists  Active Member   
American Society for Microbiology  Active Member   
Infectious Diseases Society of America  Active Member   
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Adaptive and Innate Immune Responses to Pneumococci and Pneumonia Vaccines
Description
Pneumococci are Gram-positive bacteria that are responsible for several important diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis and ear infections. The most important virulence factor of pneumococci is their polysaccharide (PS) capsule. The main host defense against pneumococci is the production of anti-capsule antibodies. To study host-bacterial pathogen interactions and to improve pneumococcal vaccines, my laboratory studies the pneumococci's capsules and the hosts' anti-capsule antibodies. Pneumococci can evade host antibodies since they can produce many serologically distinct PS capsules (more than 90 serotypes). Our studies of diversity in pneumococcal PS capsules led us to discover new, previously unrecognized serotypes. One new serotype is 6C, which had previously been misclassified as serotype 6A. We have shown that 6C is chemically and genetically distinct from 6A, that its infection is not prevented by the currently available vaccine, and that its prevalence has been increasing worldwide. Based on our work on serotype 6C, we predicted and have discovered a new pneumococcal serotype 6D. These findings have had a great impact on pneumococcal vaccine developments and evaluations. Recent studies led us discover another new serotype, 11E. Serotype 11E is almost identical to serotype 11A, but 11E has inactive wcjE whereas 11A has a functional wcjE, a gene responsible for acetylating capsular PS. Our epidemiologic survey showed that 11E is rare among the isolates from the nasopharynx, but common among isolates from the blood. All isolates of serotype 11E are genetically distinct (i.e., have distinct wcjE inactivation patterns) and may have been derived from serotype 11A independently in each individual. These findings supports a hypothesis that innate immune factors present in the nasopharynx favor serotype 11A but innate immune factors in the blood favor serotype 11E. We recently discovered the innate immune factor to be ficolin-2, a component in the lectin pathway of complement cascade. We are investigating how ficolin-2 provides protection in vivo. Our studies have also led us to develop various bio-technologies such as multiplexed assays for antibody function (MOPA) and automated serotyping of pneumococci (Multibead Assay). We are also investigating a new way to diagnose pneumococcal pneumonia based on the biochemical changes observed during pneumonia infections. These bio-technologies are of fundamental importance in developing pneumococcal vaccines and are widely used. Because of our development of these technologies and our expertise with pneumococcal antibodies, our laboratory is serving as the Reference Laboratory for both the NIH and the World Health Organization.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Geno KA, Gilbert GL, Song JY, Skovsted IC, Klugman KP, Jones C, Konradsen HB,Nahm MH. Pneumococcal capsules and their types: past, present, and future. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2015 Jul;28(3):871-99.  26085553 
Brady AM, Calix JJ, Yu J, Geno KA, Cutter GR, Nahm MH. Low invasiveness of pneumococcal serotype 11A is linked to ficolin-2 recognition of O-acetylated capsule epitopes and lectin complement pathway activation. J Infect Dis. 2014 Oct
1;210(7):1155-65. 		 24683196 
Calix JJ, Dagan R, Pelton SI, Porat N, Nahm MH. Differential occurrence of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 11E between asymptomatic carriage and invasive pneumococcal disease isolates reflects a unique model of pathogen microevolution.
Clin Infect Dis. 2012 Mar;54(6):794-9. 		 22267713 
Calix JJ, Saad JS, Brady AM, Nahm MH. Structural characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 9A capsule polysaccharide reveals the role of the glycosyl 6-O-acetyltransferase wcjE in serotype 9V capsule biosynthesis and immunogenicity. J Biol Chem. 2012 Apr 20;287(17):13996-4003.  22367197 
Calix JJ, Oliver MB, Sherwood LK, Beall BW, Hollingshead SK, Nahm MH. Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 9A isolates contain diverse mutations to wcjE that result in variable expression of serotype 9V-specific epitope. J Infect Dis. 2011 Nov 15;204(10):1585-95.  21908730 
Yu J, Lin J, Kim KH, Benjamin WH Jr, Nahm MH. Development of an automated and multiplexed serotyping assay for Streptococcus pneumoniae. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2011 Nov;18(11):1900-7.
 		 21900529 
Park IH, Moore MR, Treanor JJ, Pelton SI, Pilishvili T, Beall B, Shelly MA, Mahon BE, Nahm MH, the Active Bacterial Core Surveillance Team: Differential effects of pneumococcal vaccines against serotypes 6A and 6C. J Infect Dis. 2008; 198: 1818-1822  18983249  
Nahm MH, Lin J, Finkelstein JA, Pelton SI. Increase in the Prevalence of the Newly Discovered Pneumococcal Serotype 6C in the Nasopharynx after Introduction of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine. J Infect Dis. 2009 Feb 1;199(3):320-325.   19099489 
Park IH, Pritchard DG, Cartee R, Brandao A, Brandileone MC, Nahm MH. Discovery of a new capsular serotype (6C) within serogroup 6 of Streptococcus pneumoniae. J Clin Microbiol. 2007 Apr;45(4):1225-33.  17267625 
Burton RL, Nahm MH: Development and validation of a fourfold multiplexed opsonization assay (MOPA4) for pneumococcal antibodies. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2006 Sep;13(9); 1004-9.  16960111 
 

Keywords
pneumococcus, capsule, innate immunity, pathogenesis, vaccines