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Abbe N. De Vallejo Ph.D.

  • Emeritus, Department of Pediatrics
  • Pro-tem, Tenure and Academic Freedom Committee, University Senate
  • PMI Graduate Faculty
  • Associate Editor, Frontiers in Immunology
  • Editorial Board, Aging and Disease
  • Fellow, The Royal Society of Medicine

    Education & Training

  • Postdoctoral (Rheumatology) - Mayo Graduate School of Medicine
  • Postdoctoral (Molecular Immunology) - Mayo Graduate School of Medicine
  • Ph.D. (Microbiology & Immunology) - University of Mississippi Medical Center
  • SC.M. (Pathobiology) - University of Stirling, Scotland
Representative Publications
  • Hoffman RA, Huang S, Chalasani G, Vallejo AN. 2021. Disparate Recruitment and Retention of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells to The Small Intestinal Mucosa between Young and Aged Mice. Aging Dis. 2021 Aug 1;12(5):1183-1196.
  • Vallejo AN, Mroczkowski HJ, Michel JJ, Woolford M, Blair HC, Griffin P, McCracken E, Mihalik SJ, Reyes-Mugica M, Vockley J. 2021. Pervasive inflammatory activation in patients with deficiency in very-long-chain acyl-coA dehydrogenase (VLCADD). Clin Transl Immunology. 2021 Jun 27;10(6):e1304. AAAS EurekAlert news: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/uop-pic062821.php.  
  • Vallejo AN, Reed AM, Bending D, Van Wijk F, Wedderburn LR. (eds). 2021. Immunophysiology of Pediatric Rheumatic Diseases. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. eBook, doi:10.3389/978-2-88971-784-2.
  • Kuniholm MH, Bramah-Lawani M, Fitzpatrick M, Nouraie M, Qin S, Huang L, Vallejo AN, Landay AL, Morris A. 2021. Association of Monocyte Migration Marker CD11b With Pulmonary Function in People Living With HIV. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2021 Mar 1;86(3):344-352.
  • Kritschil R, Zhao S, Dong Q, Lee J, Conover CA, Sowa G, Vallejo AN, Vo N. 2020. Effects of suppressing bioavailability of insulin-like growth factor on age-associated intervertebral disc degeneration. JOR Spine. 2020 Jul 27;3(4):e1112.
  • Rajakumar K, Moore CG, Khalid A, Vallejo AN, Virji M, Holick MF, Greenspan SL, Arslanian S, Reis SE. 2020. Effect of Enhanced vitamin D3 supplementation on vascular and metabolic health of vitamin D-deficient overweight and obese children: A randomized clinical trial. Amer J Clin Nutr 111(4):757-768. PMC7138671. Editorial feature: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqaa021.
  • Shaaban CE, Aizenstein HJ, Jorgensen DR, Mahbubani RLM, Meckes NA, Erickson KI, Glynn NW, Mettenburg J, Guralnik J, Newman AB, Ibrahim TS, Laurienti PJ, Vallejo AN, Rosano C. Physical Activity and Cerebral Small Vein Integrity in Older Adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Aug;51(8):1684-1691.
  • Ferguson ID, Griffin P, Yano H, Gaffen SL, Piganelli JD, Dvergsten JA, Michel JJ, Rosenkranz ME, Kietz DA, Vallejo AN. 2018. CD31/IL17-driven inflammatory axis shapes synovitis in juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Frontiers Immunol 9:1802.
  • Griffin P, Michel JJ, Vallejo AN. 2018. Diversity of CD28null T cells in the elderly: A glimpse into biological adaptation of aging. Handbook in Immunosenescence. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-64597-1_87-1.
  • Vallejo AN, Michel JJ, Bale LK, Lemster BH, Borghesi L, Conover CA. 2009. Resistance to age-dependent thymic atrophy in long-lived mice that have deficiency in pregnancy-associated plasma protein A. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 106:11252-11257. AAAS EurekAlert news: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-07/uops-cho071009.php.
Research Interests
  • Immunobiology of Aging.  In contrast to usual age-related physiologic damage, our major interest is successful aging, exemplified by community dwelling elders who are highly functional despite long history of diseases and/or concurrent co-morbid conditions. We are interested in two fundamental questions: What are the immunologic determinants of long-term survivorship? How does immunity influence healthy longevity?
  • Immunobiology of chronic inflammation. We focus on juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and adult-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We are pursuing the role of premature immune aging as an etiology of these rheumatic diseases. This is based on our findings about telomere erosion and in vivo accumulation of senescent or pre-senescent T cells disproportionate with age. We interested in three questions: What drives immune cell senescence in JIA and RA?  Are prematurely senescent immune cells the cause of disease, and be targets for therapy?