Research Interests

Dr. Butch is interested in understanding how antigen-presenting dendritic cells regulate immunity and inflammatory responses in various microenvironments.

Earlier work investigated molecular mechanisms by which human follicular dendritic cells regulate T cell responses in germinal centers of lymphoid tissue. Collaborative studies are currently underway with Dr. Kelly to evaluate the role of dendritic cells in generating immunity in various mucosal tissues using a mouse model of Chyamydia infection. Other areas of research involve the characterization of assays to evaluate immune function and the development of immuoassays against novel proteins. Recent work in collaboration with Dr. Gatti has resulted in the development of a sandwich immunoassay to quantitate cellular levels of the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) protein. ATM protein is absent or found in extremely small quantities in mononuclear cells from patients with the progressive neurodegenerative disorder ataxia-telangiectasia.

Current Research

Core Immunology Laboratory
Principle Investigator: A. Butch
Agency: W. Bettingen Endowment Fund 7/1/04 – 6/30/05
The major goal is to investigate behavioral, neural and immunologic interactions, and to conduct immune studies in conjunction with psychological evaluation and interventions.

Natural History of AIDS in Homosexual Men
Principle Investigator: R. Detels
Agency: NIH-NCI
Type: AI35040 4/1/04 – 3/31/09
The major goals are to continue to document the natural history of untreated and treated HIV infection in a group of men who was originally recruited in 1984/5 and a group of young Latino and African-American men recruited in 2002/3. A. Butch is a co-investigator on this project.

T-Cell Mediated Immunity in Chlamydial Infection
Principle Investigator: K. Kelly
Agency: NIH-NIAID
Type: R01-AI26328 12/1/02 – 11/31/07
The major goals are to identify mechanisms of lymphocyte recruitment to chlamydial infected genital mucosa using the murine model of infection. A. Butch is a co-investigator on this project.

Cancer Center Core Support Grant
Principle Investigator: J. Gasson
Agency: NCI
Type: P30-CA016042 12/1/02 – 11/30/07
Subproject: Immunology Core; Principle Investigators A. Butch & C Uittenbogaart
The major goal is to provide state of the art immunological assays to members of the Jonsson Cancer Center.

Recent Publications

Butch AW, Fukuchi AM. Analytical performance of the CEDIA cyclosporine PLUS whole blood immunoassay. J Anal Toxicol. 2004;28:204-10.

McWhorter VC, Ford LC, Butch AW. Analytical performance of the Synchron LX ®20 Pro, BN TMII and IMMAGE ® high sensitivity C-reactive protein assays and concordance in cardiovascular risk stratification. Clinica Chimica Acta. 2004;374:71-9.

 Jahr JS, Osgood S, Rothenberg SJ, Steien E, Li QL, Bezdikian V, Butch AW, Gunther R, Cheung A, Driessen B. Lactate interference by hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (Oxyglobin ®, Hemopure ®, and Hemolink TM). Anesth Analg., in press.

Wah DT, Wises PK, Butch AW. Analytical performance of the iQ200 ® automated urine microscopy analyzer and comparison with manual counts using Fuchs-Rosenthal cell chambers. Am J Clin Path., in press.

Aziz N, Irwin MR, Dickerson SS, Butch AW. Spurious tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6 production by human monocytes from blood collected in endotoxin-contaminated Vacutainer blood collection tubes. Clin Chem., in press.

Butch AW, Chun HH, Nahas SA, Gatti RA. Development of an immunoassay to measure ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) protein in cellular lysates. Clin Chem., in press.

Anthony W. Butch
UCLA Medical Center
Department of Pathology & Lab Medicine
10833 Le Conte Ave, A7-149 CHS
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1713
310-206-0587 (Tel)
310-794-4864 (Fax)