Faculty Associates

Erin Gordon, M.D.

Associate Professor
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Department of Medicine
University of California, San Francisco

513 Parnassus Ave, HSE-201
San Francisco, CA 94143

Tel: 415-476-9456

Website:
Erin Gordon

Erin Gordon is an Associate Professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine. She completed both her B.S. in Biochemisty at the University of California, Berkeley and M.D. at the University of Southern California. After completing her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, she pursued fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. John Fahy in the Airway Clinical Research Center and Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.

The Gordon laboratory is a translational research lab focused on understanding how genetics influence disease heterogeneity in asthma. Our laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie the asthma risk conferred by asthma- associated genes: IL-33, IL1RL1, and GSDMB. IL-33 is an epithelial derived cytokine and both it and its receptor ST2 (encoded by the IL1RL1 gene) are among the most replicated genome wide association study hits for asthma. We have discovered polymorphisms in these genes that influence gene expression in airway epithelial cells and we are using CRISPR based gene editing to determine the causal polymorphism. We have also found that polymorphisms in these genes are associated with the type 2 high asthma endotype. The GSDMB locus is also among the most replicated asthma genetic loci and the gene encodes a membrane pore forming protein. We have discovered that the gasdermin family of proteins is involved in the secretion of IL-33 from airway epithelial cells. Finally, we have been studying the role of type 2 inflammation and basal cell differentiation in the epithelium of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, a disease closely related clinically to severe asthma.

Selected Publications:
  1. Dugger DT, Calabrese DR, Gao Y, Deiter F, Tsao T, Maheshwari J, Hays SR, Leard L, Kleinhenz ME, Shah R, Golden J, Kukreja J, Gordon ED, Singer JP, Greenland JR. Lung Allograft Epithelium DNA Methylation Age Is Associated With Graft Chronologic Age and Primary Graft Dysfunction. Front Immunol. 2021 12:704172. PMCID: PMC8528961.
  2. Dugger DT, Fung M, Zlock L, Caldera S, Sharp L, Hays SR, Singer JP, Leard LE, Golden JA, Shah RJ, Kukreja J, Gordon E, Finkbeiner W, Kleinhenz ME, Langelier C, Greenland JR. Cystic Fibrosis Lung Transplant Recipients Have Suppressed Airway Interferon Responses during Pseudomonas Infection. Cell Rep Med. 2020 Jul 21; 1(4). PMCID: PMC7402593.
  3. Lachowicz-Scroggins ME, Dunican EM, Charbit AR, Raymond W, Looney MR, Peters MC, Gordon ED, Woodruff PG, Lefrançais E, Phillips BR, Mauger DT, Comhair SA, Erzurum SC, Johansson MW, Jarjour NN, Coverstone AM, Castro M, Hastie AT, Bleecker ER, Fajt ML, Wenzel SE, Israel E, Levy BD, Fahy JV. Extracellular DNA, Neutrophil Extracellular Traps, and Inflammasome Activation in Severe Asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019 05 01; 199(9):1076-1085. PMCID: PMC6515873.
  4. Lachowicz-Scroggins ME, Gordon ED, Wesolowska-Andersen A, Jackson ND, MacLeod HJ, Sharp LZ, Sun M, Seibold MA, Fahy JV. Cadherin-26 (CDH26) regulates airway epithelial cell cytoskeletal structure and polarity. Cell Discov. 2018; 4:7. PMCID: PMC5809386.
  5. Dunican EM, Elicker BM, Gierada DS, Nagle SK, Schiebler ML, Newell JD, Raymond WW, Lachowicz-Scroggins ME, Di Maio S, Hoffman EA, Castro M, Fain SB, Jarjour NN, Israel E, Levy BD, Erzurum SC, Wenzel SE, Meyers DA, Bleecker ER, Phillips BR, Mauger DT, Gordon ED, Woodruff PG, Peters MC, Fahy JV, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP). Mucus plugs in patients with asthma linked to eosinophilia and airflow obstruction. J Clin Invest. 2018 03 01; 128(3):997-1009. PMCID: PMC5824874.
  6. Lachowicz-Scroggins ME, Finkbeiner WE, Gordon ED, Yuan S, Zlock L, Bhakta NR, Woodruff PG, Fahy JV, Boushey HA. Corticosteroid and long-acting ß-agonist therapy reduces epithelial goblet cell metaplasia. Clin Exp Allergy. 2017 Dec; 47(12):1534-1545. PMID: 28833774.
  7. Gordon ED, Palandra J, Wesolowska-Andersen A, Ringel L, Rios CL, LachowiczScroggins ME, Sharp LZ, Everman JL, MacLeod HJ, Lee JW, Mason RJ, Matthay MA, Sheldon RT, Peters MC, Nocka KH, Fahy JV, Seibold MA. IL1RL1 Asthma Risk Variants Regulate Airway Type 2 Inflammation. JCI Insight. 2016;1(14):287871. PMCID: PMC5033813.
  8. Gordon ED, Simpson LJ, Rios CL, Ringel L, Lachowicz-Scroggins ME, Peters MC, Wesolowska-Andersen A, Gonzalez JR, MacLeod HJ, Christian LS, Yuan S, Barry L, Woodruff PG, Ansel KM, Nocka K, Seibold MA, Fahy JV. Alternative splicing of IL-33 and type 2 inflammation in asthma. PNAS, 2016; 113(31):8765-70. PMCID: PMC4978244.
  9. Gordon ED, Locksley RM, Fahy JV. Cross-Talk between Epithelial Cells and Type 2 Immune Signaling. The Role of IL-25. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016 May 1;193(9):935-6. PMCID: PMC4872659.
  10. Sweerus K*, Lachowicz-Scroggins ME*, Gordon ED, LaFemina M, Huang X, Parikh M, Fahy JV, Frank JA. Claudin-18 deficiency is associated with airway epithelial barrier dysfunction and asthma. J Allergy Clin ImmunoI, 2016 Apr 20. pii: S0091-6749(16)30089-6. PMCID: PMC5073041.
  11. Gordon ED, Sidhu SS, Wang ZE, Woodruff PG, Yuan S, Solon MC, Conway SJ, Huang X, Locksley RM, Fahy JV. A protective role of periostin and TGF-b in IgEmediated allergy and airway hyperresponsiveness. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 2012. PMCID: PMC3271792.
  12. Gordon E, Lazarus SC. Management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: moving beyond the asthma algorithm. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009 Nov; 124(5):873-80; quiz 881- 2. PMID: 19895979..