Emeritus Professor of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine

Email: jshg2@medschl.cam.ac.uk

Research interests

My research has been in the pathogenesis of inflammatory joint disease, especially ankylosing spondylitis and related diseases. I am interested in how genes associated with these diseases, especially HLA-B27, influence susceptibility to disease by affecting immune responses. The interaction between the immune system and microbial agents, both pathogens and commensals, in the pathogenesis of spondyloarthritis has been also a major focus of interest. Currently I review manuscripts for the major rheumatologic journals and grant applications for a variety of funders. I chair the scientific sub-committee of the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research.

Key publications

Gaston, J.S.H. and Jadon, D. R. Th17 cell responses in spondyloarthritis. Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology. In press (2018).

Gaston, J.S.H. Recent advances in understanding spondyloarthritis. F1000Res 6:304 (2017).

Elder, MJ, Webster, SJ, Williams, DL, Gaston, JSH and Goodall, JC. TSLP production by dendritic cells is modulated by IL-1ß and components of the endoplasmic reticulum stress response. Eur J Immunol 46(2):455-63. (2016)

Baraliakos X, Heldmann F, van den Bosch F, et al. Long-term efficiency of infliximab in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: real life data confirm the potential for dose reduction. RMD Open;2:e000272. doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2016-000272 (2016)

Prevosto C, Usmani MF, McDonald S, Gumienny AM, Key T, Goodman RS, et al. Allele-Independent Turnover of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Class Ia Molecules. PLoS One. 11(8):e0161011 (2016).

Webster SJ, Ellis L, O’Brien LM, Tyrrell B, Fitzmaurice TJ, Elder MJ, et al. IRE1alpha mediates PKR activation in response to Chlamydia trachomatis infection. Microbes Infect 18(7-8):472-83. (2016).

Robinson PC, Costello ME, Leo P, Bradbury LA, Hollis K, Cortes A, et al. ERAP2 is associated with ankylosing spondylitis in HLA-B27-positive and HLA-B27-negative patients. Ann Rheum Dis.  2015;74(8):1627-9 (2015)

Wu, C., Goodall, J.C., Busch, R., and Gaston, J.S.H. Relationship of CD146 expression to secretion of interleukin (IL)-17, IL-22 and interferon-γ by CD4+ T cells in patients with inflammatory arthritis. Clin Exp Immunol 179(3):378-91 (2015)

Areas of expertise

Immunology, T lymphocyte, Cytokine biology, Spondyloarthritis, Reactive arthritis, Chlamydia trachomatis