Home| Professor of Neurology |
| Lead, Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma |
Contact details:
| Tel: | +44 20 7377 7472 |
| Fax: | +44 20 7377 7033 |
| Email: | g.giovannoni@qmul.ac.uk |
| Address: | Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma, |
Biography
Gavin Giovannoni was appointed to the Chair of Neurology, Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Department of Neurology, Barts and The London NHS Trust in November 2006. He did his undergraduate medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa , where graduated cum laude in 1987 winning the prizes for best graduate in medicine and surgery. He moved to the Institute of Neurology , Queen Square , London in 1993 after completing his specialist training in neurology in South Africa . After three years as a clinical research fellow and two years as the Scarfe Lecturer he was awarded a PhD in immunology from the University of London in 1998. He was appointed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer, Royal Free and University College Medical School , in 1998 and moved back to Queen Square in 1999. He was made a Reader in Neuroimmunology in 2004. His clinical interests are multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system. He is particularly interested in clinical issues related to optimising MS disease modifying therapies. Other interests are immune-mediated movement disorders.
Research Activity
Professor Giovannoni's current research is focused on Epstein Barr virus as a possible cause of multiple sclerosis (MS), MS related neurodegeneration, MS biomarker discovery, MS clinical outcome measures, MS clinical trials and an immune tolerance strategy. Professor Giovannoni and Baker have demonstrated that cannabinoids are neuroprotective in an animal model of MS and are trying to develop different combinations and formulations of Cannabinoids that could be used as neuroprotective therapies in MS and related disorders. A proportion of patients with MS treated with interferon-beta develop neutralizing antibodies to interferon-beta (NABs). As interferon-beta is a self protein the presence of NABs can be viewed as an iatrogenic autoimmune disease. Professor Giovannoni's group is using NABs as a model for testing immune tolerance strategies. Professor Giovannoni has also described an emerging group of movement and neuropsychiatric disorders associated with antibodies that react with specific antigenic determinants in the basal ganglia. The antigens are all membrane associated enzymes involved in the glycolytic pathway; their membrane function however may be unrelted to glycolysis. The group is currentlty investigating the pathogenic signficance of these antibodies that react against the basal ganglia.
Key Publications
• Dale RC, Church AJ, Cardoso F, et al. Poststreptococcal acute disseminated encephalomyelitis with basal ganglia involvement and auto-reactive antibasal ganglia antibodies. Ann Neurol 2001;50:588-595.
• Church AJ, Cardoso F, Dale RC, Lees AJ, Thompson EJ, Giovannoni G. Anti-basal ganglia antibodies in acute and persistent Sydenham's chorea. Neurology 2002;59:227-231.
• Petzold A, Eikelenboom MJ, Gveric D, et al. Markers for different glial cell responses in multiple sclerosis: clinical and pathological correlations. Brain 2002;125:1462-1473.
• Sellebjerg F, Giovannoni G, Hand A, Madsen HO, Jensen CV, Garred P. Cerebrospinal fluid levels of nitric oxide metabolites predict response to methylprednisolone treatment in multiple sclerosis and optic neuritis. J Neuroimmunol 2002;125:198-203.
• Church AJ, Dale RC, Lees AJ, Giovannoni G, Robertson MM. Tourette's syndrome: a cross sectional study to examine the PANDAS hypothesis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2003;74:602-607.
• Petzold A, Baker D, Pryce G, Keir G, Thompson EJ, Giovannoni G. Quantification of neurodegeneration by measurement of brain-specific proteins. J Neuroimmunol 2003;138:45-48.
• Petzold A, Keir G, Green AJ, Giovannoni G, Thompson EJ. A specific ELISA for measuring neurofilament heavy chain phosphoforms. J Immunol Methods 2003;278:179-190.
• Pryce G, Ahmed Z, Hankey DJ, et al. Cannabinoids inhibit neurodegeneration in models of multiple sclerosis. Brain 2003;126:2191-2202.
• Pryce G, Giovannoni G, Baker D. Mifepristone or inhibition of 11beta-hydroxylase activity potentiates the sedating effects of the cannabinoid receptor-1 agonist Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol in mice. Neurosci Lett 2003;341:164-166.
• Church AJ, Dale RC, Giovannoni G. Anti-basal ganglia antibodies: a possible diagnostic utility in idiopathic movement disorders? Arch Dis Child 2004;89:611-614.
• Dale RC, Church AJ, Surtees RA, et al. Encephalitis lethargica syndrome: 20 new cases and evidence of basal ganglia autoimmunity. Brain 2004;127:21-33.
• Lim ET, Grant D, Pashenkov M, et al. Cerebrospinal fluid levels of brain specific proteins in optic neuritis. Mult Scler 2004;10:261-265.
• Petzold A, Keir G, Green AJ, Giovannoni G, Thompson EJ. An ELISA for glial fibrillary acidic protein. J Immunol Methods 2004;287:169-177.
• Lim ET, Berger T, Reindl M, et al. Anti-myelin antibodies do not allow earlier diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 2005;11:492-494.
• Petzold A, Eikelenboom MJ, Keir G, et al. Axonal damage accumulates in the progressive phase of multiple sclerosis: three year follow up study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2005;76:206-211.
• Pryce G, O'Neill JK, Croxford JL, et al. Autoimmune tolerance eliminates relapses but fails to halt progression in a model of multiple sclerosis. J Neuroimmunol 2005;165:41-52.
• Candler PM, Dale RC, Griffin S, et al. Post-streptococcal opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome associated with anti- neuroleukin antibodies. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2006;77:507-512.
• Dale RC, Candler PM, Church AJ, Wait R, Pocock JM, Giovannoni G. Neuronal surface glycolytic enzymes are autoantigen targets in post-streptococcal autoimmune CNS disease. J Neuroimmunol 2006;172:187-197.
• Karrenbauer VD, Leoni V, Lim ET, et al. Plasma cerebrosterol and magnetic resonance imaging measures in multiple sclerosis. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 2006;108:456-460.
• Petzold A, Eikelenboom MI, Keir G, et al. The new global multiple sclerosis severity score (MSSS) correlates with axonal but not glial biomarkers. Mult Scler 2006;12:325-328.
• Polman CH, O'Connor PW, Havrdova E, et al. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of natalizumab for relapsing multiple sclerosis. N Engl J Med 2006 ;354:899-910.
• Calabresi PA, Giovannoni G, Confavreux C, et al. The incidence and significance of anti-natalizumab antibodies: results from AFFIRM and SENTINEL. Neurology 2007;69:1391-1403.
• Giovannoni G, Barbarash O, Casset-Semanaz F, et al. Immunogenicity and tolerability of an investigational formulation of interferon-beta1a: 24- and 48-week interim analyses of a 2-year, single-arm, historically controlled, phase IIIb study in adults with multiple sclerosis. Clin Ther 2007;29:1128-1145.
• Maresz K, Pryce G, Ponomarev ED, et al. Direct suppression of CNS autoimmune inflammation via the cannabinoid receptor CB1 on neurons and CB2 on autoreactive T cells. Nat Med 2007;13:492-497.
• Rudick RA, Miller D, Hass S, et al. Health-related quality of life in multiple sclerosis: effects of natalizumab. Ann Neurol 2007;62:335-346.
