Dr Yassine Amrani

I was awarded PhD cum laude in Respiratory Medicine from the University of Strasbourg. I started my academic career at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia one of the top Ivy League Universities in the USA where I received my first appointment at the Department of Medicine in 2002 as Assistant Professor of Medicine.

In 2007 I moved to the University of Leicester(UK) where I hold a tenured Readership in Respiratory Immunology. I am a member of the Institute for Lung Health (Glenfield Hospital ) PI at the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (respiratory theme) and acting Head of the Department of Respiratory Sciences

Throughout my career I have developed a strong interest in the immunopathogenesis of lung diseases including severe asthma with a particular emphasis on the deleterious action of pro-asthmatic TH1 and TH2 cytokines on lung structural cells. My lab has developed different translational “bench-to-bedside” models to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms affecting the therapeutic action of current anti-asthma drugs including corticosteroids and beta2-agonists.

Amrani Y, Panettieri RA, Ramos-Ramirez P, Schaafsma D, Kaczmarek K, Tliba O. Important lessons learned from studies on the pharmacology of glucocorticoids in human airway smooth muscle cells: Too much of a good thing may be a problem. Pharmacol Ther. Sep; 213:107589, 2020

Panettieri RA, Schaafsma D, Amrani Y, Koziol-White C, Ostrom R, Tliba O. Non-genomic Effects of Glucocorticoids: An Updated View. Trends Pharmacol Sci. Jan;40(1):38-49, 2019

Chachi L, Alzahrani A, Koziol-White C, Biddle M, Bagadood R, Panettieri RA Jr, Bradding P, Amrani Y.

Increased β2-adrenoceptor phosphorylation in airway smooth muscle in severe asthma: possible role of mast cell-derived growth factors. Clin Exp Immunol. Nov;194(2):253-258, 2018

Roach KM, Sutcliffe A, Matthews L, Elliott G, Newby C, Amrani Y, Bradding P. A model of human lung fibrogenesis for the assessment of anti-fibrotic strategies in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Sci Rep. Jan 10;8(1):342, 2018

Chachi L, Abbasian M, Gavrila A, Alzahrani A, Tliba O, Bradding P, Wardlaw AJ, Brightling C, Amrani Y. Protein phosphatase 5 mediates corticosteroid insensitivity in airway smooth muscle in patients with severe asthma. Allergy. 72(1):126-136, 2017

Lewis R, Chachi L, Newby C, Amrani Y*, Bradding P*. Bi-directional counterregulation of human lung mast cells and human airway smooth muscle β2-adrenoceptor responses. J. Immunol. 1;196(1):55-63, 2016 (*shared senior authorship)

Bradley S, Wiegman CHC, Maza Iglesias M, Kong KC, Butcher AJ, Russell K, Goupil E, Bourgognon JM, Macedo-Hatch T, Laporte SA, Chung KF, Amrani Y* and Tobin AB*. Mapping physiological G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathways reveals a role for receptor phosphorylation in airway contraction Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2016 Apr 19;113(16):4524-9 (*shared senior authorship)

Chachi Y, Gavrila A, Tliba O, and Amrani Y. Abnormal corticosteroid signalling in airway smooth muscle: Mechanisms and perspectives for the treatment of severe asthma. Clin Exp Allergy 45(11):1637-46, 2015

Gavrila A, Chachi L, Tliba O, Bradding P, Brightling C, Amrani Y. Effect of the plant derivative Compound A on the production of corticosteroid-resistant chemokines in airway smooth muscle cells. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol., 53(5):728-37, 2015

Stinson SE, Amrani Y*, Brightling C*. D prostanoid receptor 2 (chemoattractant receptor-homologous molecule expressed on TH2 cells) protein expression in asthmatic patients and its effects on bronchial epithelial cells. Stinson SE, Amrani Y, Brightling CE.. J Allergy Clin Immunol.135(2):395-406, 2015 (*shared senior authorship)

severe asthma pathogenesis

innovative therapies for lung diseases