Thierry Walzer
Studies how natural killer (NK) cells develop and become active; his team showed in mice that IL-15 signalling through mTOR is needed for NK-cell maturation and activation.
Team leader, CIRI, Lyon (since 2009) · principal investigator in Eric Vivier's laboratory, Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (2004–2009) · postdoc, Amgen, Seattle (2002–2004) · PhD with Jacqueline Marvel, ENS de Lyon (1999–2002)
Thierry Walzer was senior author of the 2014 Nature Immunology study (MAR2014) that separated two arms of IL-15 signalling in NK cells by dose: STAT5 at low IL-15 and mTOR at higher IL-15. Mice whose NK cells lack mTOR had normal numbers of NK cells in the bone marrow but almost none that were mature in the periphery, and mTOR-deficient NK cells made about half the normal granzyme B after activation. Rapamycin given by mouth reduced NK-cell killing of target cells in mice; the possible effect on patients taking rapalogs is an inference, not a measured outcome.
Walzer did his PhD on memory CD8 T cells with Jacqueline Marvel at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, worked as a postdoc at Amgen in Seattle, and then ran a group on NK cells and innate immunity in Eric Vivier's laboratory in Marseille. Since 2009 he has led a team at CIRI in Lyon, now called LYACTS, which works on NK-cell differentiation and reactivity, NK-cell immunometabolism and the genetics of early-onset autoimmunity.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | A | The metabolic checkpoint kinase mTOR is essential for IL-15 signaling during the development and activation of NK cells MAR2014 Senior author: high-dose IL-15 switches on mTOR in NK cells, and mTOR is needed for NK-cell maturation and full activation (mouse genetics, plus human NK cells in culture). |
Co-authors in the Atlas
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Thierry Walzer.
- Antoine Marçais Studies how mTOR and cell metabolism control natural killer (NK) cells; first author of the mouse study showing that NK cells need mTOR to respond to IL-15 during their development and activation.
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