Frederic F. Little, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Medicine
Biography
Dr. Little is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine. He attends on the Allergy Consultation Service as well as the Medical Intensive Care Unit and Pulmonary Consultation Service at Boston Medical Center. His outpatient activity is concentrated in the Adult Asthma and Allergy Clinics.
Dr. Little’s longstanding clinical interests and research efforts are focused on examining the nature of airway inflammation in allergic asthma, and translational approaches to diagnostics of allergic disease.
Prior to coming to Boston University, during a postdoctoral fellowship at the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute , he investigated the effect of causing an experimental cold in asthmatic and healthy volunteers, followed by concurrent examination of clinical asthma markers (e.g., spirometry, symptoms) and airway secretions by nasal lavage and sputum induction.
In the laboratory, he used key cytokine transgenic and knockout mice to investigate antigen-dependent and -independent allergic airway inflammation. Specifically, he investigated interleukin-16, a major CD4 ligand, as a paradigm for downregulation of antigen-dependent TH2 inflammation.
In his translational research at Boston University he served as a principal investigator in an adult Asthma Clinic-based study to develop a rapid saliva diagnostics platform for determining the causes of deterioration in asthma control. This study expanded to both Emergency Room populations at B.U. and cohorts of pediatric asthmatics in collaboration Dr. Elizabeth Matsui, Pediatric Allergy/Immunology (then at Johns Hopkins and currently at UT Austin). This translational approach has also been used in developing a point of care device to accurately and rapidly quantify blood allergen-specific IgE using component-resolved diagnostics. This latter effort was in collaboration with Drs. M. Selim Unlü in the Boston University College of Engineering.
He has also participated as a Co-Investigator in several immunotherapy trials with the NHLBI-funded Inner City Asthma Consortium, in collaboration with the BUMC site PI, Dr. George O’Connor.
Dr. Little’s educational and administrative responsibilities include directing the Boston University Allergy/Immunology Fellowship Training Program and formerly as Medical Director of the Pulmonary, Allergy and Sleep Clinics. He is also involved in several multi-disciplinary efforts leveraging his expertise in Allergy/Immunology including antibiotic stewardship and developing protocols for drug desensitization and graded challenges (with Pharmacy and Infectious Disease), touching on improving care delivery in the inpatient and outpatient settings.
Research interests include:
-Pulmonary Immunology
-Salivary Diagnostics of Lung Disease
-Point of Care Diagnostics of Allergic Disease
Clinical interests include:
-Asthma/Allergy
-Critical Care Medicine
-Eosinophilic Disorders
Other Positions
- Member, Pulmonary Center, Boston University
Education
- Tufts University School of Medicine, MD
- Harvard College, AB
Publications
- Published on 5/6/2024
Zoratti E, Wood R, Pomés A, Da Silva Antunes R, Altman MC, Benson B, Wheatley LM, Cho K, Calatroni A, Little FF, Pongracic J, Makhija M, Khurana Hershey GK, Sherenian MG, Rivera-Spoljaric K, Stokes JR, Gill MA, Gruchalla RS, Chambliss J, Liu AH, Kattan M, Busse PJ, Bacharier LB, Sheehan W, Kim H, Glesner J, Gergen PJ, Togias A, Baucom JL, Visness CM, Sette A, Busse WW, Jackson DJ. A pediatric randomized, controlled trial of German cockroach subcutaneous immunotherapy. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 Sep; 154(3):735-744.e10. PMID: 38718950.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/1/2024
Katari, P and Little FF. Anaphylaxis. In: Intensive Care Medicine; Irwin, R.S and Rippe, J.M eds. 9th Edition. 2024.
- Published on 3/1/2022
Kearney L, Wiener RS, Dahodwala M, Fix GM, Hicks J, Little F, Howard J, Foreman AG, Wakeman C, O'Donnell C, Bulekova K, Drainoni ML, Kathuria H. A mixed methods study to inform and evaluate a longitudinal nurse practitioner/community health worker intervention to address social determinants of health and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease self-management. BMC Pulm Med. 2022 Mar 01; 22(1):74. PMID: 35232414.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/2/2021
Vesper S, Wymer L, Kroner J, Pongracic JA, Zoratti EM, Little FF, Wood RA, Kercsmar CM, Gruchalla RS, Gill MA, Kattan M, Teach SJ, Patel S, Johnson CC, Bacharier LB, Gern JE, Jackson DJ, Sigelman SM, Togias A, Liu AH, Busse WW, Khurana Hershey GK. Association of mold levels in urban children's homes with difficult-to-control asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2022 Apr; 149(4):1481-1485. PMID: 34606833.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/20/2021
Risma KA, Edwards KM, Hummell DS, Little FF, Norton AE, Stallings A, Wood RA, Milner JD. Potential mechanisms of anaphylaxis to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 06; 147(6):2075-2082.e2. PMID: 33857566.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/4/2020
Sheehan WJ, Krouse RZ, Calatroni A, Gergen PJ, Gern JE, Gill MA, Gruchalla RS, Khurana Hershey GK, Kattan M, Kercsmar CM, Lamm CI, Little FF, Makhija MM, Searing DA, Zoratti E, Busse WW, Teach SJ. Aeroallergen Sensitization, Serum IgE, and Eosinophilia as Predictors of Response to Omalizumab Therapy During the Fall Season Among Children with Persistent Asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2020 10; 8(9):3021-3028.e2. PMID: 32376491.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/18/2018
Pratt PK, David N, Weber HC, Little FF, Kourkoumpetis T, Patts GJ, Weinberg J, Farraye FA. Antibody Response to Hepatitis B Virus Vaccine is Impaired in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Infliximab Therapy. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2018 01 18; 24(2):380-386. PMID: 29361083.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/10/2015
Nie S, Zhang H, Mayer KM, Oppenheim FG, Little FF, Greenberg J, Uluer AZ, Walt DR. Correlations of salivary biomarkers with clinical assessments in patients with cystic fibrosis. PLoS One. 2015; 10(8):e0135237. PMID: 26258476.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/21/2014
Nie S, Henley WH, Miller SE, Zhang H, Mayer KM, Dennis PJ, Oblath EA, Alarie JP, Wu Y, Oppenheim FG, Little FF, Uluer AZ, Wang P, Ramsey JM, Walt DR. An automated integrated platform for rapid and sensitive multiplexed protein profiling using human saliva samples. Lab Chip. 2014 Mar 21; 14(6):1087-98. PMID: 24448498.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/7/2014
Little FF, Delgado DM, Wexler PJ, Oppenheim FG, Mitchell P, Feldman JA, Walt DR, Peng RD, Matsui EC. Salivary inflammatory mediator profiling and correlation to clinical disease markers in asthma. PLoS One. 2014; 9(1):e84449. PMID: 24409298.
Read at: PubMed
View 31 more publications: View full profile at BUMC