Contact Information

Biography

Board Certification: Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease

Medical School: University of Wisconsin - Madison

Internship: UW Hospital and Clinics

Residency: UW Hospital and Clinics

Fellowship: UW Hospital and Clinics

Clinical & Research Interests

Dr. Denlinger is board-certified in General, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He attends an ambulatory Pulmonary Clinic and works in a multi-disciplinary intensive care unit. Areas of interest include asthma, bronchiectasis, Mycobacterial diseases, lung infections, and sepsis.

He has studied the roles of extracellular nucleotides as paracrine stress hormones. A specific focus has been on a nucleotide receptor, P2X7, and its role in amplifying innate immune responses to infectious and allergic stimuli recognized by Toll Like Receptors. The Denlinger lab is interested in the human P2RX7 gene with respect to the regulation of its expression and function as well as its contribution to airway disorders. This gene encodes a nonselective cation channel expressed by leukocytes and epithelial cells that is involved in amplification of innate immune cytokine responses and microbial killing. An active project focuses on the post-transcriptional control mechanisms of P2RX7 expression in human bronchial epithelial cells. We also have a functional screening assay that has proven reliable in identifying subjects with variant alleles. Using this assay as an epidemiological tool in collaboration with several investigators at the UW Asthma Center, we are testing the hypothesis that attenuated P2X7 function contributes to increased asthma symptoms and/or biomarkers driven by respiratory viruses and atypical bacteria.

Dr. Denlinger has participated as an Investigator in Training within the NHLBI Asthma Clinical Research Network since November 2004, and will become a Co-Investigator for the AsthmaNet renewal application in 2009. The risk factors and prediction models of asthma exacerbations are of particular interest, in addition to the genetics of asthma.

Dr. Denlinger is affiliated with graduate programs or training grants in:

Medical Scientist Training Program
Cellular & Molecular Pathology
Cellular & Molecular Biology

Search for Loren Denlinger's literature abstracts on PubMed

Keywords: Asthma, airway inflammation, nucleotide receptors, research bronchoscopy

Work Related Links

Associated Staff