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Hanping Feng, PhD

Academic Title:

Associate Professor

Primary Appointment:

University of Maryland School of Dentistry

Secondary Appointment(s):

Microbiology and Immunology

Additional Title:

Professor (Primary Appointment), Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, UM School of Dentistry

Email:

hfeng@umaryland.edu

Location:

UM School of Dentistry: 7211 (office), 7403 (lab)

Phone (Primary):

410-706-6328

Fax:

410-706-6115

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Education and Training

  • Yangtz River University, Jingsha, Hubei, BAGR, Horticulture, 1993
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, MS, Virology, 1996
  • University of Arizona, Tuscon, PhD, Microbiology and Immunology, 2002 

Biosketch

Dr Feng is an Immunologist with strength in the areas of Cell Biology and Infectious Diseases, and is currently a Professor at the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry,  with a secondary appointment as associate professor in the School of Medicine. Dr. Feng trained at the University of Arizona where he received his PhD in 2002 with his thesis titled 'Immunological Consequence of Apoptosis in a Tumor System'. He then received postdoctoral training at the Center for Blood Research at Harvard Medical School. He became an assistant research professor in 2004 in the Department of Biomedical Science at Cummings Veterinary Medicine School of Tufts University. Dr. Feng moved up  to the rank of associate research professor and then associate professor at Tufts University until he accepted a position at the University of Maryland, Baltimore at the end of 2011, where he now leads a research team that studies host immune responses to infections and chronic disorders and designs immune-based interventions against these diseases.

Research Interests

During the past several years, his lab has been focusing on several fronts of Clostridium difficile research, including host immune response and pathogenesis of the disease, and development of vaccines and novel immunotherapies against C. difficile infection (CDI).

Dr. Feng and his team have made significant progress in the field: 

  • Generation of full-length active recombinant C. difficile toxins A and B, and a number of re-engineered variants which have been distributed within the C. difficile research community worldwide
  • Development of an ultrasensitive immunocytoxicity assay and the identification of the first cases of toxemia in animals and humans with CDI
  • Establishment of several animal models, including a piglet chronic CDI model, a mouse recurrent CDI model, a mouse fulminant CDI model and is currently developing a mouse model of comorbid C. difficile infection and inflammatory bowel disease
  • Production of a chimeric dual-toxin vaccine and multi-specific antitoxin antibodies that are in preclinical development for active and passive immunotherapies against CDI

 

Research/Clinical Keywords

Clostridium difficile, VHH, immunotherapy, toxins, antibody, vaccine development, animal models, toxemia, pathogenesis, inflammation

Highlighted Publications

Yu H, Chen K, Wu J, Yang Z, Shi L, Barlow LL, Aronoff DM, Garey KW, Savidge TC, von Rosenvinge EC, Kelly CP, Feng H. Identification of toxemia in patients with Clostridium difficile infection. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 17;10(4):e0124235. PubMed PMID: 25885671; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4401762.

Yang Z, Schmidt D, Liu W, Li S, Shi L, Sheng J, Chen K, Yu H, Tremblay JM, Chen X, Piepenbrink KH, Sundberg EJ, Kelly CP, Bai G, Shoemaker CB, Feng H. A novel multivalent, single-domain antibody targeting TcdA and TcdB prevents fulminant Clostridium difficile infection in mice. J Infect Dis. 2014 Sep 15;210(6):964-72. PubMed PMID: 24683195; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4192054.

Wang H, Sun X, Zhang Y, Li S, Chen K, Shi L, Nie W, Kumar R, Tzipori S, Wang J, Savidge T, Feng H. A chimeric toxin vaccine protects against primary and recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Infect Immun. 2012 Aug;80(8):2678-88. PubMed PMID: 22615245; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3434558.

Sun X, Wang H, Zhang Y, Chen K, Davis B, Feng H. Mouse relapse model of Clostridium difficile infection. Infect Immun. 2011 Jul;79(7):2856-64. PubMed PMID: 21576341; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3191975. 

Additional Publication Citations

1. Mehta KK, Paskaleva EE, Wu X, Grover N, Mundra RV, Chen K, Zhang Y, Yang Z, Feng H, Dordick JS, Kane RS. Newly identified bacteriolytic enzymes that target a wide range of clinical isolates of Clostridium difficile. Biotechnol and bioeng. 2016; 113(12):2568-2576. PubMed PMID: 27260850 PMCID: PMC5367918 

2. Yang Z, Shi L, Yu H, Zhang Y, Chen K, Saint Fleur A, Bai G, Feng H. Intravenous adenovirus expressing a multi-specific, single-domain antibody neutralizing TcdA and TcdB protects mice from Clostridium difficile infection. Pathog Dis. 2016; 74(7). PubMed PMID: 27502696

3. Chen S, Wang H, Gu H, Sun C, Li S, Feng H, Wang J. Identification of an Essential Region for Translocation of Clostridium difficile Toxin B. Toxins. 2016; 8(8). PubMed PMID: 27537911, PMCID: PMC4999857

4. Zhang Y, Feng H. Pathogenic effects of glucosyltransferase from Clostridium difficile toxins. Pathog Dis. 2016; 74(4):ftw024. PubMed PMID: 27044305

5. Hamza T, Zhang Z, Melnyk RA, Feng H. Defective mutations within the translocation domain of Clostridium difficile toxin B impair disease pathogenesis. Pathog Dis. 2016; 74(1):ftv098. PubMed PMID: 26507679, PMCID: PMC4882082

6. Maldarelli GA, Matz H, Gao S, Chen K, Hamza T, Yfantis HG, Feng H, Donnenberg MS. Pilin Vaccination Stimulates Weak Antibody Responses and Provides No Protection in a C57BL/6 Murine Model of Acute Clostridium difficile Infection. JVaccines Vaccin. 2016; 7(3). NIHMSID: NIHMS796148 PubMed PMID: 27375958, PMCID: PMC4927082

7. Yang Z, Zhang Y, Huang T, Feng H. Glucosyltransferase activity of Clostridium difficile Toxin B is essential for disease pathogenesis. Gut microbes. 2015; 6(4):221-4. PubMed PMID: 26091306, PMCID: PMC4615278

8. Yu H, Chen K, Wu J, Yang Z, Shi L, Barlow LL, Aronoff DM, Garey KW, Savidge TC, von Rosenvinge EC, Kelly CP, Feng H. Identification of toxemia in patients with Clostridium difficile infection. PloS one. 2015; 10(4):e0124235. PubMed PMID: 25885671, PMCID: PMC4401762

9. Zhang Y, Hamza T, Gao S, Feng H. Masking autoprocessing of Clostridium difficile toxin A by the C-terminus combined repetitive oligo peptides. Biochem BiophysResCommun. 2015; 459(2):259-63. NIHMSID: NIHMS670964 PubMed PMID: 25725153, PMCID: PMC4426850

10. Huang T, Perez-Cordon G, Shi L, Li G, Sun X, Wang X, Wang J, Feng H. Clostridium difficile toxin B intoxicated mouse colonic epithelial CT26 cells stimulate the activation of dendritic cells. Pathog Dis. 2015; 73(3). NIHMSID: NIHMS689777 PubMed PMID: 25743476, PMCID: PMC4435672

11. Yuan P, Zhang H, Cai C, Zhu S, Zhou Y, Yang X, He R, Li C, Guo S, Li S, Huang T, Perez-Cordon G, Feng H, Wei W. Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan 4 functions as the cellular receptor for Clostridium difficile toxin B. Cell Res. 2015; 25(2):157-68. PubMed PMID: 25547119, PMCID: PMC4650570

12. Yang Z, Ramsey J, Hamza T, Zhang Y, Li S, Yfantis HG, Lee D, Hernandez LD, Seghezzi W, Furneisen JM, Davis NM, Therien AG, Feng H. Mechanisms of protection against Clostridium difficile infection by the monoclonal antitoxin antibodies actoxumab and bezlotoxumab. InfectImmun. 2015; 83(2):822-31. PubMed PMID: 25486992, PMCID: PMC4294251

13. Zhu Z, Shi L, Feng H, Zhou HS. Single domain antibody coated gold nanoparticles as enhancer for Clostridium difficile toxin detection by electrochemical impedance immunosensors. Bioelectrochemistry (Amsterdam, Netherlands). 2015; 101:153-8. NIHMSID: NIHMS747270 PubMed PMID: 25460611, PMCID: PMC4706752

14. Li S, Shi L, Yang Z, Zhang Y, Perez-Cordon G, Huang T, Ramsey J, Oezguen N, Savidge TC, Feng H. Critical roles of Clostridium difficile toxin B enzymatic activities in pathogenesis. Infect Immun. 2015; 83(2):502-13. PubMed PMID: 25404023, PMCID: PMC4294253

15. Huang T, Li S, Li G, Tian Y, Wang H, Shi L, Perez-Cordon G, Mao L, Wang X, Wang J, Feng H. Utility of Clostridium difficile toxin B for inducing anti-tumor immunity. PloS one. 2014; 9(10):e110826. PubMed PMID: 25340750, PMCID: PMC4207755

16. Yang Z, Schmidt D, Liu W, Li S, Shi L, Sheng J, Chen K, Yu H, Tremblay JM, Chen X, Piepenbrink KH, Sundberg EJ, Kelly CP, Bai G, Shoemaker CB, Feng H. A novel multivalent, single-domain antibody targeting TcdA and TcdB prevents fulminant Clostridium difficile infection in mice. J Infect Dis. 2014; 210(6):964-72. PubMed PMID: 24683195, PMCID: PMC4192054

17. Perez-Cordon G, Yang G, Zhou B, Nie W, Li S, Shi L, Tzipori S, Feng H. Interaction of Cryptosporidium parvum with mouse dendritic cells leads to their activation and parasite transportation to mesenteric lymph nodes. Pathog Dis. 2014; 70(1):17-27. NIHMSID: NIHMS515605 PubMed PMID: 23913680, PMCID: PMC4426866

18. Li S, Shi L, Yang Z, Feng H. Cytotoxicity of Clostridium difficile toxin B does not require cysteine protease-mediated autocleavage and release of the glucosyltransferase domain into the host cell cytosol. Pathog Dis. 2013; 67(1):11-8. NIHMSID: NIHMS428011 PubMed PMID: 23620115, PMCID: PMC3742912

19. Zhang Y, Shi L, Li S, Yang Z, Standley C, Yang Z, ZhuGe R, Savidge T, Wang X, Feng H. A segment of 97 amino acids within the translocation domain of Clostridium difficile toxin B is essential for toxicity. PloS one. 2013; 8(3):e58634. PubMed PMID: 23484044, PMCID: PMC3590123

20. Butler MM, Shinabarger DL, Citron DM, Kelly CP, Dvoskin S, Wright GE, Feng H, Tzipori S, Bowlin TL. MBX-500, a hybrid antibiotic with in vitro and in vivo efficacy against toxigenic Clostridium difficile. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2012; 56(9):4786-92. PubMed PMID: 22733075, PMCID: PMC3421853

21. Wang H, Sun X, Zhang Y, Li S, Chen K, Shi L, Nie W, Kumar R, Tzipori S, Wang J, Savidge T, Feng H. A chimeric toxin vaccine protects against primary and recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Infect Immun. 2012; 80(8):2678-88. PubMed PMID: 22615245, PMCID: PMC3434558

22. Steele J, Chen K, Sun X, Zhang Y, Wang H, Tzipori S, Feng H. Systemic dissemination of Clostridium difficile toxins A and B is associated with severe, fatal disease in animal models. J Infect Dis. 2012; 205(3):384-91. PubMed PMID: 22147798, PMCID: PMC3256947

23. Oezguen N, Power TD, Urvil P, Feng H, Pothoulakis C, Stamler JS, Braun W, Savidge TC. Clostridial toxins: sensing a target in a hostile gut environment. Gut microbes. 2012; 3(1):35-41. PubMed PMID: 22356854, PMCID: PMC3337123

24. Krautz-Peterson G, Zhang Y, Chen K, Oyler GA, Feng H, Shoemaker CB. Retargeting Clostridium difficile Toxin B to Neuronal Cells as a Potential Vehicle for Cytosolic Delivery of Therapeutic Biomolecules to Treat Botulism. J Toxicol. 2012; 2012:760142. PubMed PMID: 21941543, PMCID: PMC3177232

25. Savidge TC, Urvil P, Oezguen N, Ali K, Choudhury A, Acharya V, Pinchuk I, Torres AG, English RD, Wiktorowicz JE, Loeffelholz M, Kumar R, Shi L, Nie W, Braun W, Herman B, Hausladen A, Feng H, Stamler JS, Pothoulakis C. Host S-nitrosylation  inhibits clostridial small molecule-activated glucosylating toxins. Nat Med. 2011; 17(9):1136-41. NIHMSID: NIHMS352641 PubMed PMID:21857653, PMCID: PMC3277400

26. Sun X, Wang H, Zhang Y, Chen K, Davis B, Feng H. Mouse relapse model of Clostridium difficile infection. Infect Immun. 2011; 79(7):2856-64. PubMed PMID: 21576341, PMCID: PMC3191975

27. Cheng Y, Du P, Chen C, Yan S, Jia H, Wang J, Yan Q, Feng H, Lu J. Toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive Clostridium difficile infection diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2011; 32(5):520-2. PubMed PMID: 21515990

28. Zhang Q, Feng X, Nie W, Golenbock DT, Mayanja-Kizza H, Tzipori S, Feng H. MyD88-dependent pathway is essential for the innate immunity to Enterocytozoon bieneusi. Parasite Immunol. 2011; 33(4):217-25. NIHMSID: NIHMS253610 PubMed PMID: 21204848, PMCID: PMC3075804

29. Gerhard R, Queisser S, Tatge H, Meyer G, Dittrich-Breiholz O, Kracht M, Feng H, Just I. Down-regulation of interleukin-16 in human mast cells HMC-1 by Clostridium difficile toxins A and B. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2011; 383(3):285-95. PubMed PMID: 21267712

30. Perez-Cordon G, Nie W, Schmidt D, Tzipori S, Feng H. Involvement of host calpain in the invasion of Cryptosporidium parvum. Microbes Infect. 2011; 13(1):103-7. NIHMSID: NIHMS253683 PubMed PMID: 21087681, PMCID: PMC3014416

31. Ng J, Hirota SA, Gross O, Li Y, Ulke-Lemee A, Potentier MS, Schenck LP, Vilaysane A, Seamone ME, Feng H, Armstrong GD, Tschopp J, Macdonald JA, Muruve DA, Beck PL. Clostridium difficile toxin-induced inflammation and intestinal injury are mediated by the inflammasome. Gastroenterology. 2010; 139(2):542-52, 552.e1-3. PubMed PMID: 20398664

32. Sun X, Savidge T, Feng H. The enterotoxicity of Clostridium difficile toxins. Toxins. 2010; 2(7):1848-80. PubMed PMID: 22069662, PMCID: PMC3153265

33. Steele J, Feng H, Parry N, Tzipori S. Piglet models of acute or chronic Clostridium difficile illness. J Infect Dis. 2010; 201(3):428-34. NIHMSID: NIHMS163175 PubMed PMID: 20039803, PMCID: PMC2804769

34. He X, Wang J, Steele J, Sun X, Nie W, Tzipori S, Feng H. An ultrasensitive rapid immunocytotoxicity assay for detecting Clostridium difficile toxins. J Microbiol Methods. 2009; 78(1):97-100. NIHMSID: NIHMS126645 PubMed PMID: 19393695, PMCID: PMC2740367

35. Sun X, He X, Tzipori S, Gerhard R, Feng H. Essential role of the glucosyltransferase activity in Clostridium difficile toxin-induced secretion of TNF-alpha by macrophages. Microb Pathog. 2009; 46(6):298-305. NIHMSID: NIHMS104821 PubMed PMID: 19324080, PMCID: PMC2692465

36. He X, Sun X, Wang J, Wang X, Zhang Q, Tzipori S, Feng H. Antibody-enhanced, Fc gamma receptor-mediated endocytosis of Clostridium difficile toxin A. Infect Immun. 2009; 77(6):2294-303. PubMed PMID: 19307220, PMCID: PMC2687358

37. Yang G, Zhou B, Wang J, He X, Sun X, Nie W, Tzipori S, Feng H. Expression of recombinant Clostridium difficile toxin A and B in Bacillus megaterium. BMC Microbiol. 2008; 8:192. PubMed PMID: 18990232, PMCID: PMC2586027

38. Krautz-Peterson G, Chapman-Bonofiglio S, Boisvert K, Feng H, Herman IM, Tzipori S, Sheoran AS. Intracellular neutralization of shiga toxin 2 by an a subunit-specific human monoclonal antibody. Infect Immun.  2008; 76(5):1931-9. PubMed PMID: 18285498, PMCID: PMC2346683

39. Feng H, Nie W, Bonilla R, Widmer G, Sheoran A, Tzipori S. Quantitative tracking of Cryptosporidium infection in cell culture with CFSE. J Parasitol. 2006; 92(6):1350-4. PubMed PMID: 17304819

40. Feng H, Nie W, Sheoran A, Zhang Q, Tzipori S. Bile acids enhance invasiveness of Cryptosporidium spp. into cultured cells. Infect Immun. 2006; 74(6):3342-6. PubMed PMID: 16714562, PMCID: PMC1479245

41. Feng H, Zhang D, Palliser D, Zhu P, Cai S, Schlesinger A, Maliszewski L, Lieberman J. Listeria-infected myeloid dendritic cells produce IFN-beta, priming T cell activation. J Immunol. (Baltimore, Md. : 1950). 2005; 175(1):421-32. PubMed PMID: 15972676

42. Zhu P, Sang Y, Xu H, Zhao J, Xu R, Sun Y, Xu T, Wang X, Chen L, Feng H, Li C, Zhao S. ADAM22 plays an important role in cell adhesion and spreading with the assistance of 14-3-3. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2005; 331(4):938-46. PubMed PMID: 15882968

43. Cai S, Dole VS, Bergmeier W, Scafidi J, Feng H, Wagner DD, Davis AE 3rd. A direct role for C1 inhibitor in regulation of leukocyte adhesion. J Immunol. (Baltimore, Md. : 1950). 2005; 174(10):6462-6. PubMed PMID: 15879149

44. Shi L, Keefe D, Durand E, Feng H, Zhang D, Lieberman J. Granzyme B binds to target cells mostly by charge and must be added at the same time as perforin to trigger apoptosis. J Immunol. (Baltimore, Md. : 1950). 2005; 174(9):5456-61. PubMed PMID: 15843543

45. Zeng Y, Graner MW, Feng H, Li G, Katsanis E. Imatinib mesylate effectively combines with chaperone-rich cell lysate-loaded dendritic cells to treat bcr-abl+ murine leukemia. Int J Cancer. 2004; 110(2):251-9. PubMed PMID: 15069690

46. Feng H, Zeng Y, Graner MW, Whitesell L, Katsanis E. Evidence for a Novel, Caspase-8-Independent, Fas Death Domain-Mediated Apoptotic Pathway. J Biomed Biotechnol. 2004; 2004(1):41-51. PubMed PMID: 15123887, PMCID: PMC545657

47. Zeng Y, Feng H, Graner MW, Katsanis E. Tumor-derived, chaperone-rich cell lysate activates dendritic cells and elicits potent antitumor immunity. Blood. 2003; 101(11):4485-91. PubMed PMID: 12576309

48. Graner MW, Zeng Y, Feng H, Katsanis E. Tumor-derived chaperone-rich cell lysates are effective therapeutic vaccines against a variety of cancers. Cancer Immunol Immunother. : CII. 2003; 52(4):226-34. PubMed PMID: 12669247

49. Feng H, Zeng Y, Graner MW, Likhacheva A, Katsanis E. Exogenous stress proteins enhance the immunogenicity of apoptotic tumor cells and stimulate antitumor immunity. Blood. 2003; 101(1):245-52. PubMed PMID: 12393411

50. Feng H, Zeng Y, Graner MW, Katsanis E. Stressed apoptotic tumor cells stimulate dendritic cells and induce specific cytotoxic T cells. Blood. 2002; 100(12):4108-15. PubMed PMID: 12393401

51. Feng H, Zeng Y, Whitesell L, Katsanis E. Stressed apoptotic tumor cells express heat shock proteins and elicit tumor-specific immunity. Blood. 2001; 97(11):3505-12. PubMed PMID: 11369644

52. He L, Feng H, Raymond A, Kreeger M, Zeng Y, Graner M, Whitesell L, Katsanis E. Dendritic-cell-peptide immunization provides immunoprotection against bcr-abl-positive leukemia in mice. Cancer Immunol Immunother.: CII. 2001; 50(1):31-40. PubMed PMID: 11315508

Research Interests

Clostridium difficile pathogenesis and host responses:

We have identified that the glucosyltransferase activity of the toxins is critical for the pathogenesis of C. difficile infection, whereas cysteine protease domain in these toxins regulates glucosyltransferase-mediated effects. We also contributed to the identification of a novel host innate defense pathway against C. difficile toxins and a cellular receptor for TcdB.

    • Savidge TC, Urvil P, Oezguen N, Ali K, Choudhury A, Acharya V, Pinchuk I, Torres AG, English RD, Wiktorowicz JE, Loeffelholz M, Kumar R, Shi L, Nie W, Braun W, Herman B, Hausladen A, Feng H, Stamler JS, Pothoulakis C. Host S-nitrosylation inhibits clostridial small molecule-activated glucosylating toxins. Nat Med. 2011 Aug 21;17(9):1136-41. PubMed PMID: 21857653; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3277400.
    • Li S, Shi L, Yang Z, Feng H. Cytotoxicity of Clostridium difficile toxin B does not require cysteine protease-mediated autocleavage and release of the glucosyltransferase domain into the host cell cytosol. Pathog Dis. 2013 Feb;67(1):11-8. PubMed PMID: 23620115; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3742912.
    • Yuan P, Zhang H, Cai C, Zhu S, Zhou Y, Yang X, He R, Li C, Guo S, Li S, Huang T, Perez-Cordon G, Feng H, Wei W. Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan 4 functions as the cellular receptor for Clostridium difficile toxin B. Cell Res. 2015 Feb;25(2):157-68. PubMed PMID: 25547119; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4650570.
    • Li S, Shi L, Yang Z, Zhang Y, Perez-Cordon G, Huang T, Ramsey J, Oezguen N, Savidge TC, Feng H. Critical roles of Clostridium difficile toxin B enzymatic activities in pathogenesis. Infect Immun. 2015 Feb;83(2):502-13. PubMed PMID: 25404023; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4294253.

Clostridium difficile vaccine and immunotherapy:

We developed a novel chimeric toxin vaccine and multi-specific VHH antibodies for immunotherapy that are currently undergoing preclinical development.

    • Wang H, Sun X, Zhang Y, Li S, Chen K, Shi L, Nie W, Kumar R, Tzipori S, Wang J, Savidge T, Feng H. A chimeric toxin vaccine protects against primary and recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. Infect Immun. 2012 Aug;80(8):2678-88. PubMed PMID: 22615245; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3434558.
    • Yang Z, Schmidt D, Liu W, Li S, Shi L, Sheng J, Chen K, Yu H, Tremblay JM, Chen X, Piepenbrink KH, Sundberg EJ, Kelly CP, Bai G, Shoemaker CB, Feng H. A novel multivalent, single-domain antibody targeting TcdA and TcdB prevents fulminant Clostridium difficile infection in mice. J Infect Dis. 2014 Sep 15;210(6):964-72. PubMed PMID: 24683195; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4192054.
    • Yang Z, Ramsey J, Hamza T, Zhang Y, Li S, Yfantis HG, Lee D, Hernandez LD, Seghezzi W, Furneisen JM, Davis NM, Therien AG, Feng H. Mechanisms of protection against Clostridium difficile infection by the monoclonal antitoxin antibodies actoxumab and bezlotoxumab. Infect Immun. 2015 Feb;83(2):822-31. PubMed PMID: 25486992; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4294251.

Clostridium difficile animal models and clinical studies:

We have established several animal models, including a piglet chronic CDI model, a mouse recurrent CDI model, and a mouse fulminant CDI model. My lab for the first time identified toxemia in CDI animals and established the association between the dissemination of the two toxins in circulation with severe disease and death outcomes in animals. We also identified toxemia in CDI patients and found that the levels of serum neutralizing antitoxin antibodies is negatively associated with severity of CDI in patients.

    • Steele J, Feng H, Parry N, Tzipori S. Piglet models of acute or chronic Clostridium difficile illness. J Infect Dis. 2010 Feb 1;201(3):428-34. PubMed PMID: 20039803; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2804769.
    • Sun X, Wang H, Zhang Y, Chen K, Davis B, Feng H. Mouse relapse model of Clostridium difficile infection. Infect Immun. 2011 Jul;79(7):2856-64. PubMed PMID: 21576341; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3191975.
    • Steele J, Chen K, Sun X, Zhang Y, Wang H, Tzipori S, Feng H. Systemic dissemination of Clostridium difficile toxins A and B is associated with severe, fatal disease in animal models. J Infect Dis. 2012 Feb 1;205(3):384-91. PubMed PMID: 22147798; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3256947.
    • Yu H, Chen K, Wu J, Yang Z, Shi L, Barlow LL, Aronoff DM, Garey KW, Savidge TC, von Rosenvinge EC, Kelly CP, Feng H. Identification of toxemia in patients with Clostridium difficile infection. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 17;10(4):e0124235. PubMed PMID: 25885671; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4401762.
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