Andrew A. Wilson, MD
Professor, Medicine
Biography
I am a pulmonary and critical care clinician-scientist with a long-standing focus on regenerative medicine and stem cell biology. My goal is to advance understanding of and treatment for genetic causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the most common genetic cause of COPD, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). To accomplish this goal, I have established an integrated clinical and research program here at BU and BMC that includes the following components: 1) The Alpha-1 Center which I direct and co-founded with Dr. Darrell Kotton has become a nationally recognized center of excellence for the care of AATD patients and their families; 2) Patient stem cell repositories: I have overseen the creation of and direct two large stem cell repositories, housed at the CReM. First, we house the world’s largest AATD patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) repository, comprised of iPSCs and reprogrammable blood samples from over 100 AATD patients linked to phenotypic data including imaging, pulmonary function, and liver biopsy results. Second, in collaboration with the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) and Vasan Ramachandran, the CReM now houses the FHS iPSC Repository that includes iPSCs and reprogrammable blood samples from >6500 highly phenotyped participants in the FHS; 3) Clinical-epidemological AATD Research: Under my direction as site PI, BU is one three sites in the country funded by the Alpha-1 Foundation to recruit 100 AATD subjects to undergo liver biopsy, detailed phenotyping, and 5 years of follow-up to define the prevalence of, risk factors for, and non-invasive biomarkers associated with AATD-associated liver disease; 4) Translational bench research: my lab in the CReM is focused on the application of patient-derived iPSCs to study AATD and COPD.
The 4 core areas of my research are: I) to confirm the clinical significance of the iPSC platform to model in vivo patient biology and demonstrate its potential for testing potential therapeutic agents; II) to better understand the genetic factors and mechanistic drivers that predispose subsets of AATD patients to develop clinical disease; III) to elucidate the mechanistic contribution of putative COPD susceptibility genes to lung disease pathogenesis; and IV) to develop gene or cell-based therapies for AATD.
Research interests include:
-Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
-COPD pathogenesis
-Gene therapy
-Pluripotent stem cells
Clinical interests include:
-Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
Other Positions
- Investigator, Framingham Heart Study
- Member, Pulmonary Center, Boston University
- Member, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Boston University
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Websites
Education
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, MD
- Williams College, BA
Publications
- Published on 1/2/2025
Rojas-Quintero J, Ochsner SA, Lee HS, Cong C, Waich Cohen A, Colborg AS, Tsoyi K, Basil MC, Cantu E, Rosas IO, McKenna NJ, San-José Estépar R, Barjaktarevic I, Wilson AA, Polverino F. Skewed adaptive immune responses are involved in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency emphysema. Eur Respir J. 2025 Jan; 65(1). PMID: 39401853.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/22/2024
Wilson AA, Bora C, Silva C, White JL, Sanfratello N, Symowicz J, Querey C, Gabriel D. A Multimodal Intervention to Improve Guideline-Based Screening for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency in a Community Health Setting. Chronic Obstr Pulm Dis. 2024 Nov 22; 11(6):582-590. PMID: 39361976.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/29/2024
Soares De Oliveira L, Kaserman JE, Van Der Spek AH, Lee NJ, Undeutsch HJ, Werder RB, Wilson AA, Hollenberg AN. Thyroid hormone receptor beta (THRß1) is the major regulator of T3 action in human iPSC-derived hepatocytes. Mol Metab. 2024 Dec; 90:102057. PMID: 39481850.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/1/2024
Hu Y, Soares De Oliveira L, Falize K, Paul van Trotsenburg AS, Fliers E, Kaserman JE, Wilson AA, Hollenberg AN, Bruinstroop E, Boelen A. Disturbed function of TBL1X has a differential effect on T3-regulated gene expression in two human liver cell models. Eur Thyroid J. 2024 Oct 01; 13(5). PMID: 39316725.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/30/2024
Werder RB, Zhou X, Cho MH, Wilson AA. Breathing new life into the study of COPD with genes identified from genome-wide association studies. Eur Respir Rev. 2024 Apr 30; 33(172). PMID: 38811034.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/27/2024
Guo F, Zhang L, Yu Y, Gong L, Tao S, Werder RB, Mishra S, Zhou Y, Anamika WJ, Lao T, Inuzuka H, Zhang Y, Pham B, Liu T, Tufenkjian TS, Richmond BW, Wei W, Mou H, Wilson AA, Hu M, Chen W, Zhou X. Identification of a distal enhancer regulating hedgehog interacting protein gene in human lung epithelial cells. EBioMedicine. 2024 Mar; 101:105026. PMID: 38417378.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/14/2024
Abo KM, Merritt C, Basil MC, Lin SM, Cantu E, Morley MP, Bawa P, Gallagher M, Byers DE, Morrisey EE, Wilson AA. Pulmonary Cellular Toxicity in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. Chest. 2024 Sep; 166(3):472-479. PMID: 38360172.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/20/2023
Werder RB, Berthiaume KA, Merritt C, Gallagher M, Villacorta-Martin C, Wang F, Bawa P, Malik V, Lyons SM, Basil MC, Morrisey EE, Kotton DN, Zhou X, Cho MH, Wilson AA. The COPD GWAS gene ADGRG6 instructs function and injury response in human iPSC-derived type II alveolar epithelial cells. Am J Hum Genet. 2023 Oct 05; 110(10):1735-1749. PMID: 37734371.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/6/2022
Kaserman JE, Werder RB, Wang F, Matte T, Higgins MI, Dodge M, Lindstrom-Vautrin J, Bawa P, Hinds A, Bullitt E, Caballero IS, Shi X, Gerszten RE, Brunetti-Pierri N, Liesa M, Villacorta-Martin C, Hollenberg AN, Kotton DN, Wilson AA. Human iPSC-hepatocyte modeling of alpha-1 antitrypsin heterozygosity reveals metabolic dysregulation and cellular heterogeneity. Cell Rep. 2022 Dec 06; 41(10):111775. PMID: 36476855.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/8/2022
Scoon WA, Mancio-Silva L, Suder EL, Villacorta-Martin C, Lindstrom-Vautrin J, Bernbaum JG, Mazur S, Johnson RF, Olejnik J, Flores EY, Mithal A, Wang F, Hume AJ, Kaserman JE, March-Riera S, Wilson AA, Bhatia SN, Mühlberger E, Mostoslavsky G. Ebola virus infection induces a delayed type I IFN response in bystander cells and the shutdown of key liver genes in human iPSC-derived hepatocytes. Stem Cell Reports. 2022 Oct 11; 17(10):2286-2302. PMID: 36084636.
Read at: PubMed
View 39 more publications: View full profile at BUMC