Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology  http://www.gbs.uab.edu  http://www.uab.edu/graduate  Back to Main

Faculty Detail    
Name PETER D BURROWS
Professor Emeritus		  
Campus Address SHEL 406 Zip 2182
Phone  (205) 934-6529
E-mail  peterb@uab.edu
Other websites Burrows Lab
     

Education
Undergraduate  University of Massachusetts Amherst    1970  B.S. 
Graduate  University of Alabama at Birmingham    1978  PhD 


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Microbiology  Microbiology Professor Emeritus
Center  GL Ctr for Craniofacial, Oral, & Dental Disorders  GL Ctr for Craniofacial, Oral, & Dental Disorders Professor Emeritus

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology 
Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics 
Immunology 
Medical Scientist Training Program 

Biographical Sketch 
Peter D. Burrows received his bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and then worked at the University of Chicago as a research assistant. He completed his Ph.D. studies in Microbiology/Immunology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and then spent four years as an Assistant Scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen Germany. In 1983, Dr. Burrows returned to UAB as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and is currently Professor Emeritus of Microbiology. In addition, he holds positions as Research Coordinator at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences in Yokohama, Japan, and Chief Scientist at Trianni, Inc. in San Francisco. He has been Associate Editor of Autoimmunity and the Journal of Immunology, a member of the NIH Immunology Fellowships and AREA Study Section, Scientific Advisor, RIKEN Research Center for Allergy and Immunology, Japan and a recipient of the UAB President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Tokyo University of Science President’s Award.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Association for the Advancement of Science     
American Association of Immunologists     
American Society for Microbiology     
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
B Lymphocyte Development and Function
Description
B Lymphocyte Development and Function The long term goal of our studies is to understand the normal progression of the multipotential hemopoietic stem cell as it commits to development along the B cell lineage, undergoing the changes in phenotype and genotype that are characteristic of B cells. Intracellular Fc receptor-related proteins We have identified FCRLA as a new member of the larger Fc receptor (FcR) and FcR-like (FCRL) gene family of humans and mice. Among hemopoietic cells, FCRLA expression is restricted to B cells. In humans, FCRLA is preferentially expressed by germinal center B cells but its expression in the mouse has not yet been well defined. The conventional FcR and the FcRL molecules are nearly all transmembrane proteins, and all of them have extracellular glycoprotein domains for ligand binding. In striking contrast, FCRLA is an intracellular protein. It lacks N-linked glycosylation sites and a transmembrane region, but contains a signal sequence common to proteins targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Our data now clearly indicate a role for FCRLA as a resident ER protein that associates with immunoglobulin in this organelle. Moreover, analysis of FCRLA expression in the Ramos IgM B cell line, which produces both the membrane (m) and secretory (s) isoforms of μ heavy chain, indicates that FCRLA preferentially associates with μs. The unique features and restricted cellular distribution of FCRLA suggest its importance in the metabolism of Ig in B cells and in normal immune system function. Definition of the composition and function of the Ig-FCRLA complex is a major goal of our studies. These functions could include aiding Ig folding, facilitating Ig assembly, regulating Ig transport, and/or monitoring the degradation of incompletely processed Ig molecules. FCRLA may play an essential role in the intracellular quality control system that ensures the correct production of antibodies. Moreover, its preferential expression in human germinal center B cells, where B cell proliferation, antibody class switching, and mutation of antibody variable region genes occurs, suggests that defects in FCRLA expression may lead to autoimmunity or immunodeficiency diseases.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Wang Y, Hwangpo T, Martin MP, Vince N, Qi Y, Reynolds RJ 4th, Absher D, Gao X, Ballinger CA, Burrows PD, Atkinson TP, Brown EE, Elgavish A, Liu C, Carrington M, Schroeder HW. J. Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors are associated with common variable immune deficiency pathogenesis. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2016 138:1495-1498  2766549 
Khass, M, Blackburn, T, Burrows, PD, Walter, MR, Capriotti, E, Schroeder, HW, Jr. VpreB serves as an invariant surrogate antigen for selecting immunoglobulin antigen-binding sites. Science Immunology. 14 Jul 2016: Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. aaf6628, DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aaf6628  28217764 
Wang Y, Kapoor P, Parks R, Silva-Sanchez A, Alam SM, Verkoczy L, Liao HX, Zhuang Y, Burrows P, Levinson M, Elgavish A, Cui X, Haynes BF, Schroeder H Jr. HIV-gp140 epitope recognition is influenced by immunoglobulin DH gene segment sequence. Immunogenetics, 2016 68:145-55.   26687685 
Hara Y, Tashiro Y, Murakami A, Nishimura M, Shimizu T, Kubo M, Burrows PD, Azuma T. High affinity IgM(+) memory B cells are generated through a germinal center-dependent pathway. Mol. Immunol. Dec;68(2 Pt C):617-27, 2015  26514429 
Silva-Sanchez A, Liu CR, Vale AM, Khass M, Kapoor P, Elgavish A, Ivanov II, Ippolito GC, Schelonka RL, Schoeb TR, Burrows PD, Schroeder HW Jr. Violation of an evolutionarily conserved immunoglobulin diversity gene sequence preference promotes production of dsDNA-specific IgG antibodies. PLOS One 10(2):e0118171, 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118171  25706374 
Li FJ, Won WJ, Becker EJ Jr, Easlick JL, Tabengwa EM, Li R, Shakhmatov M, Honjo K, Burrows PD, Davis RS. Emerging roles for the FCRL family members in lymphocyte biology and disease. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 382:29-50. 2014.   25116094 
Liu J, Lange MD, Hong SY, Xie W, Xu K, Huang L, Yu Y, Ehrhardt GR, Zemlin M, Burrows PD, Su K, Carter RH, Zhang Z.: Regulation of VH replacement by B cell receptor-mediated signaling in human immature B cells. J Immunol. 190:5559-5566 2013.   23630348 
Li FJ, Won WJ, Becker EJ Jr, Easlick JL, Tabengwa EM, Li R, Shakhmatov M, Honjo K, Burrows PD, Davis RS.: Emerging roles for the FCRL family members in lymphocyte biology and disease. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 382:29-50, 2014  25116094 
Burrows PD.: RCAI International Summer Program 2013. Eur J Immunol. 43:2238-2239, 2013.
 		 24037675 
Vale AM, Kapoor P, Skibinski GA, Elgavish A, Mahmoud TI, Zemlin C, Zemlin M, Burrows PD, Nobrega A, Kearney JF, Briles DE, Schroeder HW Jr.: The link between antibodies to OxLDL and natural protection against pneumococci depends on D(H) gene conservation.
J Exp Med. 2013 210:875-890.
 		 23589567 
Burrows PD. 2012. The IFReC-SIgN winter school on advanced immunology. Nat Immunol. 13:625-7.  22713818 
Vale AM, Foote JB, Granato A, Zhuang Y, Pereira RM, Lopes UG, Bellio M, Burrows PD, Schroeder HW Jr, Nobrega A.: A rapid and quantitative method for the evaluation of V gene usage, specificities and the clonal size of B cell repertoires. J Immunol Methods. 376:143-9, 2012.  22226792 
Santiago, T, Kulemzin, SV, Reshetnikova, ES, Chikaev, NA, Volkova, OY, Mechetina, LV, Zhao, M, Davis, RS, Taranin, AV, Najakshin, AM, Hendershot, LM, Burrows, PD: FCRLA is a resident endoplasmic reticulum protein that associates with intracellular Igs, IgM, IgG and IgA. Int. Immunol. 23:43-53, 2011.   21149418 
Masuda, K, Mori, H, Ohara, O, Nakayama, M, Wang, JY, Burrows, PD: Defining the immunological phenotype of Fc receptor-like B (FCRLB) deficient mice: Confounding role of the inhibitory FcγRIIb. Cell. Immunol. 266:24-31, 2010.   20869045 
Conley ME and Burrows PD.: Plugging the leaky pre-B cell receptor. (Commentary on Pillars article: “A critical role of lambda 5 protein in B cell development.” Kitamura, D, et al., Cell. 1992. 69: 823-831) J Immunol. 184:1127-9. 2010.   20089707 
Burrows PD, Kronenberg M, Taniguchi M.: NKT cells turn ten. Nat Immunol. 10:669-71. 2009.   19536187 
Davis,R.S., Li,H., Chen,C.C., Wang,Y.-H., Cooper,M.D., and Burrows,P.D.: Definition of an Fc receptor related gene (FcRX) expressed in human and mouse B cells. Int. Immunol. 14: 1075-1083, 2002.  12202404 
Burrows, PD and Fischer, A.: Building networks for immunodeficiency diseases and immunology training. Nat Immunol. 9:1005-1007 2008.   18711439 
Munfus, D.L., Haga, C.L., Burrows, P.D., and Cooper MD.: A conserved gene family encodes transmembrane proteins with fibronectin, immunoglobulin and leucine-rich repeat domains (FIGLER). BMC Biol. 5:36 2007.   17854505 
Zhang, Z., Espinoza, C.R., Yu, Z., Stephan, R., Te, T., Williams, G.S., Burrows, P.D., Hagman, J., Feeney, A.J., and Cooper, M.D.: Transcription factor Pax5 (BSAP) transactivates the RAG-mediated VH-to-DJH rearrangement of immunoglobulin genes. Nature Immunology 7:616-624 2006.  16680144 
Maltai, L., Lovering, R., Taranin, A. V., Colonna, M., Ravetch, J. V., Dalla-Favera, R., Burrows, P. D., Cooper, M. D., and Davis, R. S.: New proposed nomenclature for the Fc receptor-like (FCRL) family. Nature Immunology 7:431-432 2006.  16622424 
Masuda K, Davis RS, Maruyama T, Zhang J, He T, Cooper MD, O-Wang J, Burrows PD.:FcRY, an Fc receptor related gene differentially expressed during B lymphocyte development and activation. Gene. Oct 29; [Epub ahead of print], 2005.
 		 16263223  
Zhang Z, Zemlin M, Wang YH, Munfus D, Huye LE, Findley HW, Bridges SL, Roth DB, Burrows PD, Cooper MD.:Contribution of VH gene replacement to the primary B cell repertoire. Immunity. 19:21-31, 2003.  12871636  
Wang YH, Zhang Z, Burrows PD, Kubagawa H, Bridges SL Jr, Findley HW, Cooper MD.:V(D)J recombinatorial repertoire diversification during intraclonal pro-B to B-cell differentiation.
Blood. 101(3):1030-7, 2003. 		 12393550  
Kaminski DA, Letterio JJ, Burrows PD.:Differential regulation of mouse B cell development by transforming growth factor beta1.
Dev Immunol. 9:85-95, 2002. 		 12739785  
Herren B, Burrows PD.:B cell-restricted human mb-1 gene: expression, function, and lineage infidelity. Immunol Res. 26:35-43, 2002.  12403343  
Depiero, A., Kaminski, D. A., Halsey, J. F., Briles, D., Burrows, P. D., Hostoffer, R. W.: Immunologic compensation in a patient with a large IgH constant region deletion. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 107:1051-1055, 2001.  11398084 
Burrows, P.D., Suematsu, S., and Watanabe, T.: Activation of self-reactive B cells and autoimmune diseases. Rev. Immunogenetics 2:38-51, 2000.  11324692 
Kubagawa, H., Burrows, P.D., and Cooper, M.D.: A novel pair of immunoglobulin-like receptors (PIR) expressed by B cells and myeloid cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:5261-5266, 1997.  9144225 
Sun, L., Luce, M. J., Ren, K., Ha, H., and Burrows, P. D.: Identification of polymorphisms in the constant region of IgG3: The missing mouse allotype. Inter. Immunol. 7:337-341, 1995.  7734427 
Ha, H., Hajek, P., Bedwell, D. M., and Burrows, P. D.: A mitochondrial porin cDNA predicts the existence of multiple human porins. J. Biol. Chem. 268:12143-12149, 1993.  7685033 
Burrows, P. D., Beck-Engeser, G. B., and Wabl, M. R.: Immuno­globulin heavy chain class switch in a pre-B cell line is accompanied by DNA rearrangement. Nature 306:243-246, 1983.  6417542 
Kubagawa, H., Cooper, M. D., Carroll, A. J. and Burrows, P. D.: Light chain gene expression before heavy chain gene rearrangement in pre-B cells transformed by Epstein-Barr virus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:2356-2360, 1989.  2538839 
Kerr, W. G., Hendershot, L. M. and Burrows, P. D.: Regu­lation of IgM and IgD expression in human B-lineage cells. J. Immunol. 146:3314-3321, 1991.  1902853 
Burrows, P., LeJeune, M. and Kearney, J. F.: Evidence that murine pre-B cells synthesize mu heavy chains but no light chains. Nature 280:838-840, 1979.  112480 
 

Keywords
B lymphocyte, development, molecular biology