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Research and Clinical Interests

The laboratory of Dr. Wisniewski has focused on three main areas: 1) The pathogenesis and treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. 2) Treatment approaches for the prion diseases. 3) Development of novel imaging methodologies for brain amyloid deposits. This work has led to more than 160 publications.

Selected Publications

Scholtzova H, Kascsak RJ, Bates KA, Boutajangout A, Kerr DJ, Meeker HC, Mehta PD, Spinner DS, Wisniewski T. Induction of toll-like receptor 9 signaling as a method for ameliorating Alzheimer's disease-related pathology. J Neurosci. 2009 Feb 11;29(6):1846-54. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19211891. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5715-08.2009.

Spinner DS, Cho IS, Park SY, Kim JI, Meeker HC, Ye X, Lafauci G, Kerr DJ, Flory MJ, Kim BS, Kascsak RB, Wisniewski T, Levis WR, Schuller-Levis GB, Carp RI, Park E, Kascsak RJ. Accelerated prion disease pathogenesis in Toll-like receptor 4 signaling-mutant mice. J Virol. 2008 Nov;82(21):10701-8. Epub 2008 Aug 20. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18715916. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00522-08. PMCID: PMC2573175.

Wegiel J, Dowjat K, Kaczmarski W, Kuchna I, Nowicki K, Frackowiak J, Mazur Kolecka B, Wegiel J, Silverman WP, Reisberg B, Deleon M, Wisniewski T, Gong CX, Liu F, Adayev T, Chen-Hwang MC, Hwang YW. The role of overexpressed DYRK1A protein in the early onset of neurofibrillary degeneration in Down syndrome. Acta Neuropathol. 2008 Oct;116(4):391-407. Epub 2008 Aug 12. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18696092. doi: 10.1007/s00401-008-0419-6.

Scholtzova H, Wadghiri YZ, Douadi M, Sigurdsson EM, Li YS, Quartermain D, Banerjee P, Wisniewski T. Memantine leads to behavioral improvement and amyloid reduction in Alzheimer's-disease-model transgenic mice shown as by micromagnetic resonance imaging. J Neurosci Res. 2008 Sep;86(12):2784-91. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18615702. doi: 10.1002/jnr.21713.

Cercy SP, Sadowski MJ, Wisniewski T. Prominent neuroleptic sensitivity in a case of early-onset Alzheimer disease due to presenilin-1 G206A mutation. Cogn Behav Neurol. 2008 Sep;21(3):190-5. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18797263. doi: 10.1097/WNN.0b013e31817d74bf.

Sigurdsson EM, Wadghiri YZ, Mosconi L, Blind JA, Knudsen E, Asuni A, Scholtzova H, Tsui WH, Li Y, Sadowski M, Turnbull DH, de Leon MJ, Wisniewski T. A non-toxic ligand for voxel-based MRI analysis of plaques in AD transgenic mice. Neurobiol Aging. 2008 Jun;29(6):836-47. Epub 2007 Feb 8. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17291630. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2006.12.018. PMCID: PMC2408732.

Gambetti P, Dong Z, Yuan J, Xiao X, Zheng M, Alshekhlee A, Castellani R, Cohen M, Barria MA, Gonzalez-Romero D, Belay ED, Schonberger LB, Marder K, Harris C, Burke JR, Montine T, Wisniewski T, Dickson DW, Soto C, Hulette CM, Mastrianni JA, Kong Q, Zou WQ. A novel human disease with abnormal prion protein sensitive to protease. Ann Neurol. 2008 Jun;63(6):697-708. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18571782. doi: 10.1002/ana.21420.

Goñi F, Prelli F, Schreiber F, Scholtzova H, Chung E, Kascsak R, Brown DR, Sigurdsson EM, Chabalgoity JA, Wisniewski T. High titers of mucosal and systemic anti-PrP antibodies abrogate oral prion infection in mucosal-vaccinated mice. Neuroscience. 2008 May 15;153(3):679-86. Epub 2008 Mar 6. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18407424. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.02.051. PMCID: PMC2474749.

Klyubin I, Betts V, Welzel AT, Blennow K, Zetterberg H, Wallin A, Lemere CA, Cullen WK, Peng Y, Wisniewski T, Selkoe DJ, Anwyl R, Walsh DM, Rowan MJ. Amyloid beta protein dimer-containing human CSF disrupts synaptic plasticity: prevention by systemic passive immunization. J Neurosci. 2008 Apr 16;28(16):4231-7. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18417702. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5161-07.2008.

Firuzi O, Zhuo J, Chinnici CM, Wisniewski T, Praticò D. 5-lipoxygenase gene disruption reduces amyloid-β pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. FASEB J. 2008 Apr;22(4):1169-78. Epub 2007 Nov 12. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17998412. doi: 10.1096/fj.07-9131.com.

Webb S, Lekishvili T, Loeschner C, Sellarajah S, Prelli F, Wisniewski T, Gilbert IH, Brown DR. Mechanistic insights into the cure of prion disease by novel antiprion compounds. J Virol. 2007 Oct;81(19):10729–41. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17652397.

Li Q, Min J, Ahn YH, Namm J, Kim EM, Lui R, Kim HY, Ji Y, Wu H, Wisniewski T, Chang YT. Styryl-based compounds as potential in vivo imaging agents for beta-amyloid plaques. Chembiochem. 2007 Sep 24;8(14):1679–87. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17705341.

Spinner DS, Kascsak RB, Lafauci G, Meeker HC, Ye X, Flory MJ, Kim JI, Schuller-Levis GB, Levis WR, Wisniewski T, Carp RI, Kascsak RJ. CpG oligodeoxynucleotide-enhanced humoral immune response and production of antibodies to prion protein PrPSc in mice immunized with 139A scrapie-associated fibrils. J Leukoc Biol. 2007 Jun;81(6):1374–85. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17379700.

Litterst C, Georgakopoulos A, Shioi J, Ghersi E, Wisniewski T, Wang R, Ludwig A, Robakis NK. Ligand binding and calcium influx induce distinct ectodomain/gamma-secretase-processing pathways of EphB2 receptor. J Biol Chem. 2007 Jun 1;282(22):16155–63. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17428795.

Sigurdsson EM, Wadghiri YZ, Mosconi L, Blind JA, Knudsen E, Asuni A, Scholtzova H, Tsui WH, Li Y, Sadowski M, Turnbull DH, de Leon MJ, Wisniewski T. A non-toxic ligand for voxel-based MRI analysis of plaques in AD transgenic mice. Neurobiol Aging. 2007 Feb;Epub 2007 Feb 7. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17291630.

Selected Books and Reviews

Sadowski M, Verma A, Wisniewski T. Chapter 57G. Infections of the Nervous System: Prion Diseases. In: Bradley WG, editor. Neurology in Clinical Practice. 5th edition. Philadelphia: Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier; 2008. pp. 1567-1581.

Wisniewski T, Konietzko U. Amyloid-β immunisation for Alzheimer's disease. Lancet Neurol. 2008 Sep;7(9):805-11. Epub 2008 Jul 28. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18667360. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(08)70170-4.

Ghiso J, Wisniewski T. An animal model of vascular amyloidosis. Nat Neurosci. 2004 Sep;7(9):902–4. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15332087.

Sadowski M, Wisniewski T. Disease modifying approaches for Alzheimer's pathology. Curr Pharm Des. 2007;13(19):1943–54. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17627527.

Wisniewski T, Frangione B. Immunological and anti-chaperone therapeutic approaches for Alzheimer disease. Brain Pathol. 2005 Jan;15(1):72–7. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15779239.

Wisniewski T, Chabalgoity JA, Goni F. Is vaccination against transmissible spongiform encephalopathy feasible? Rev Sci Tech. 2007 Apr;26(1):243–51. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17633306.

Wadghiri YZ, Sigurdsson EM, Wisniewski T, Turnbull DH. Magnetic resonance imaging of amyloid plaques in transgenic mice. Methods Mol Biol. 2005;299:365–79. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15980617.

Wisniewski T, Sadowski M. Preventing β-amyloid fibrillization and deposition: β-sheet breakers and pathological chaperone inhibitors. BMC Neuroscience. 2008 Dec 3;9 Suppl 2:Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19090993. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-9-S2-S5. PMCID: PMC2604889.

Sigurdsson EM, Wisniewski T. Promising developments in prion immunotherapy. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2005 Oct;4(5):607–10. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 16221061.

Wisniewski T, Sigurdsson EM. Therapeutic approaches for prion and Alzheimer's diseases. FEBS J. 2007 Aug;274(15):3784-98. Epub 2007 Jul 6. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17617224. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-4658.2007.05919.x.

Sassoon J, Sadowski M, Wisniewski T, Brown DR. Therapeutics and prion disease: can immunisation or drugs be effective? Mini Rev Med Chem. 2005 Apr;5(4):361–6. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15853626.

Sadowski M, Wisniewski T. Vaccines for conformational disorders. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2004 Jun;3(3):279–90. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15176944.

Organizational Associations

1982– British Medical Association; 1984– American Medical Association; 1987– American Academy of Neurology; 1989– American Association of Neuropathology; 1996– Society for Neuroscience; 1997– The Harvey Society

Selected Awards

1989 American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology: Certification in Neurology
1990 American Board of Pathology: Certification in Neuropathology
1999 Zenith Award, Alzheimer's Disease Association
2002 Alzheimer's Disease Award, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease

Hospital Affiliations

Tisch Hospital
Bellevue Hospital

Additional Information

Detailed CV: Wisniewski_Thomas_CV_20071127.pdf
Research Profile