Scientific topics
Keywords
ITMO
Renato MONTEIRO Professor in Immunology, MD, PhD
Course and current status
Renato Monteiro is professor of Immunology at Paris Diderot University and head of the Center for Research on Inflammation – INSERM U1149 & CNRS ERL8252 located at Bichat Hospital campus in Paris. After obtaining his medical degree in Brazil and then completing a residency in nephrology, he moved to Paris in 1982 to study nephrology at the Necker Hospital under the mentoring of Professor Jean Berger. Prof. Monteiro was awarded the 1986 Prize of the French Society of Nephrology for his work on IgA nephropathy, notably for the identification of abnormal IgA in Berger’s disease. He later studied immunology at the University of Birmingham in Alabama with Professor Max Cooper. Prof. Monteiro’s work in Prof. Cooper’s lab led to the identification of the IgA Fc receptor I (CD89). He defended his PhD thesis in immunology in 1993 at Paris Diderot University.
Scientific summary
Professor Monteiro made important discoveries in the field of IgA and Fcα receptors. His research group identified CD71 transferrin receptor as an IgA1 receptor and pioneered work in involvement of CD89 and CD71 in diseases involving the IgA system such as IgA nephropathy, Henoch-Schönlein purpura, spondylitis, alcoholic cirrhosis, and celiac disease. His team identified an unsuspected function for CD89 and SIGNR1, and beyond, a new role for these molecules as dampers of the immune system. They demonstrated for the first time that CD89 can play an inhibitory role of cell activation besides its known role in cell activation. When occupied by monomeric IgA or when targeted by anti-receptor Fab fragment, CD89 can promote sustained inhibition of cell activation opening new therapeutic approaches. Prof. Monteiro was awarded the 2010 Prize of the French Society of Immunology for his work on CD89.
