Arnold I. Levinson - Faculty Biosketch

Arnold I. Levinson, MD

Emeritus Professor of Medicine

Associate Dean for Research, Perelman School of Medicine

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Department: Medicine

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46 Contact information
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Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania
1e Room 316 Blockley Hall
35 423 Guardian Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19104

30 Office: (215) 898-4592
34 Fax: (215) 898-0193
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Email:
frog@mail.med.upenn.edu

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18 Publications
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26 Search PubMed for articles c

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Links
9b Search PubMed for articles
45 Immunology graduate group faculty webpage.
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13 Education:
21 9 B.S. 17 (Psychology) c
2f University of Maryland, 1965.
21 9 M.D. 15 (Medicine) c
2f University of Maryland, 1969.
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1f Post-Graduate Training
24 5f Intern in Medicine, Baltimore City Hospitals, Baltimore, Maryland, 1969-1970.
24 6c First Year Resident in Medicine, Baltimore City Hospitals, Baltimore, Maryland, 1970-1971.
24 90 Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunobiology, , University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1971-1972.
24 92 Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunology, University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, California, 1972-1973.
24 95 Fellowship, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1973-1975.
24 84 Visiting Scientist, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 1987-1988.
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17 Certifications
28 3c American Board of Internal Medicine, 1972.
28 4a American Board of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1975.
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3 90 Permanent link
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b6 > Perelman School of Medicine > Faculty > Details a

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Description of Research Expertise

23 Research Interest
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41 Cellular and molecular basis of human autoimmune disease
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19 Research Summary
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49 Role of the thymus in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG)
2a5 Dr. Levinson analyzed the expression of acetylcholine receptors in the thymus in an effort to determine how intrathymic expression of this autoantigen may predispose to development of the prototypic autoimmune disease, myasthenia gravis (MG). His studies focused on the cellular localization of these receptors at the protein and mRNA levels, as well as their quantitation, and molecular regulation. He developed a mouse model of the intrathymic pathogenesis of MG, which suggested that an antecedent inflammatory response in the thymus augments lymphocyte trafficking back to this organ and leads to a breach of tolerance to locally expressed acetylcholine receptor.
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3f Impact of a B cell superantigen on the immune response
356 Dr. Levinson studied the impact of a novel type of antigen, a B cell superantigen, on the immune system. Unlike a conventional antigen, a B cell superantigen has the potential to react with a large numbers of B cells or large amounts of soluble immunoglobulin. He found that the prototypic B cell superantigen, Staphylococcus aureus protein, activated the classical complement cascade in vitro and induced immune complex mediated tissue injury in vivo. His studies uncovered the molecular basis for this immunopathologic response. He subsequently discovereed that the proinflammatory effects of bacterial B cell superantigens may not be solely mediated by their interaction with the complement system given the fact that interaction with a toll-like receptor was the predominant mechanism in the case of a second B cell superantigen under study.
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ab Additionally, Dr. Levinson has investigated mechanisms of human B cell activation and immunoregulatory abnormalities in patients with antibody deficiency syndromes.
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Description of Clinical Expertise

52 complex autoimmune diseaases, immune deficiency, allergic diseases
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Selected Publications

c6 Levinson Arnold I: Modeling the intrathymic pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis. Journal of the neurological sciences Jan 2013.

bd Levinson AI: Myasthenia Gravis. Clinical Immunology: Principles and Practice. Rich R (eds.). Elseiver, fourth, 2013.

1e5 Anderson Amy L, Zheng Yi, Song Decheng, Larosa David, Van Rooijen Nico, Kierstein Gerold, Kierstein Sonja, Haczku Angela, Levinson Arnold I: The B-cell superantigen Finegoldia magna protein L causes pulmonary inflammation by a mechanism dependent on MyD88 but not B cells or immunoglobulins. Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] 61(2): 161-9, Feb 2012.

14a Zemble Robert Marc, Takach Patricia A, Levinson Arnold I: The relationship between hypogammaglobulinemia, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and humoral immunodeficiency: a case series. Journal of clinical immunology 31(5): 737-43, Oct 2011.

10e Park Joon H, Levinson Arnold I: Granulomatous-lymphocytic interstitial lung disease (GLILD) in common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.) 134(2): 97-103, Feb 2010.

15d Glaum Mark C, Narula Shilpi, Song Decheng, Zheng Yi, Anderson Amy L, Pletcher C Hank, Levinson Arnold I: Toll-like receptor 7-induced naive human B-cell differentiation and immunoglobulin production. The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology 123(1): 224-230.e4, Jan 2009.

146 Torigian Drew A, LaRosa David F, Levinson Arnold I, Litzky Leslie A, Miller Wallace T: Granulomatous-lymphocytic interstitial lung disease associated with common variable immunodeficiency: CT findings. Journal of thoracic imaging 23(3): 162-9, Aug 2008.

10e Rabin R L, Levinson A I: The nexus between atopic disease and autoimmunity: a review of the epidemiological and mechanistic literature. Clinical and experimental immunology 153(1): 19-30, Jul 2008.

14f Glaum Mark C, Levinson Arnold I: Asymptomatic long-standing panhypogammaglobulinemia with impaired antibody responses. Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology : official publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology 100(4): 396-7, Apr 2008.

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26 Last updated: 02/06/2013
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