E-mail address: julio.gallegodelgado@lehman.cuny.edu
Phone Number: 718-960-1983 
Office: Science Hall 4408 (Lab: Science Hall 4411) 
Rank: Assistant Professor 
Degrees and Source of Degrees: M.Sci., Ph.D., Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain; MS. in Applied Statistics, National University of Distance Education, Spain.

Research

Laboratory website: https://gdmalarialab.org

Malaria, Blood Brain Barrier, Acute Kidney Injury, Translational Medicine, Renin Angiotensin System, Wnt/β-catenin/Tcf pathway 

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite of the genus Plasmodium. P. falciparum is the species most commonly associated with severe malaria and is responsible for nearly all of the malaria-associated mortality. In the last 15 years there has been significant progress towards controlling malaria. However, in the last two years the rate of decline has stalled and even reversed. In 2016 there was an increase of 15 million cases to a total of 216 million cases and the number of deaths reached 445,000, mostly in children under 5 y/o. Severe malaria represents a small percentage of all malaria cases, but once the symptoms have developed it can rapidly progress and hosptial deaths occur most often within 24 hours of admission. Major manifestations of severe malaria, which independently predict fatal outcome, include cerebral malaria, acidosis and renal dysfuntion.

My research experience in different fields such as hypertension and cardiovascular diseases gave me a broad view analyzing and interpreting scientific questions, allowing me to establish new links before unexplored. In that sense, I have been able to establish a connection between two major molecular pathways, Renin-Angiotensin-System (key in hypertension) and Wnt/β-catenin/Tcf pathway, in the setting of cerebral malaria. Furthermore, I have demonstrated that using antihypertensive drugs called ARBs or ‘sartans” we are able to partially prevent experimental cerebral malaria and, most importantly, to rescue animals that already showed neurological symptoms of cerebral malaria. This new approach opens up possibilities for new treatments for cerebral malaria. 

My laboratory research focuses on the pathology of severe malaria. Specifically, by using in vitro and in vivo models of malaria, we aim to understand the changes taking place in brain endothelial cells during malaria infection and to identify the molecular pathways underlying acute kidney injury during severe malaria.

Publications

• Nunez-Borque E, Fernandez-Bravo S, Rodriguez Del Rio P, Alwashali E, Lopez-Dominguez D, Gutierrez-Blazquez MD, Laguna JJ, Tome-Amat J, Gallego-Delgado J, Gomez-Lopez A, Betancor D, Cuesta-Herranz J, Ibanez-Sandin MD, Benito-Martin A and Esteban V. Increased miR-21-3p and miR-487b-3p serum levels during anaphylactic reaction in food allergic children. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2021.
• Weinstock A, Gallego-Delgado J, Gomes C, Sherman J, Nikain C, Gonzalez S, Fisher E and Rodriguez A. Tamoxifen activity against Plasmodium in vitro and in mice. Malar J. 2019;18:378.
• Gomes PS, Tanghe S, Gallego-Delgado J, Conde L, Freire-de-Lima L, Lima AC, Freire-de-Lima CG, Lima Junior JDC, Moreira O, Totino P, Rodriguez A, Todeschini AR and Morrot A. Targeting the Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway Prevents Plasmodium Developmental Cycle and Disease Pathology in Vertebrate Host. Front Microbiol. 2019;10:305.
• Zhang M, Gallego-Delgado J, Fernandez-Arias C, Waters NC, Rodriguez A, Tsuji M, et al. Inhibiting the Plasmodium eIF2alpha Kinase PK4 Prevents Artemisinin-Induced Latency. Cell host & microbe. 2017;22(6):766-76 e4. PMID: 29241041
• Gallego-Delgado J, Rodriguez A. Rupture and Release: A Role for Soluble Erythrocyte Content in the Pathology of Cerebral Malaria. Trends Parasitol. 2017;33(11):832-5. PMID: 287098.
• Rodriguez-Feo JA, Gallego-Delgado J, Puerto M, Wandosell F, Osende J. Reticulon-4B/Nogo-B acts as a molecular linker between microtubules and actin cytoskeleton in vascular smooth muscle cells. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016;1863(8):1985-95. PMID: 27132996
• Gallego-Delgado J, Walther T, Rodriguez A. The High Blood Pressure-Malaria Protection Hypothesis. Circulation research. 2016;119(10):1071-5. PMID: 27660286
• Gallego-Delgado J, Basu-Roy U, Ty M, Alique M, Fernandez-Arias C, Movila A, et al. Angiotensin receptors and β-catenin regulate brain endothelial integrity in malaria. J Clin Invest. 2016;126(10):4016-4029. PMID: 27643439
• Fernandez-Arias C, Rivera-Correa J, Gallego-Delgado J, Rudlaff R, Fernandez C, Roussel C, et al. Anti-Self Phosphatidylserine Antibodies Recognize Uninfected Erythrocytes Promoting Malarial Anemia. Cell host & microbe. 2016;19(2):194-203. PMID: 26867178
• Shaw TN, Stewart-Hutchinson PJ, Strangward P, Dandamudi DB, Coles JA, Villegas-Mendez A, et al. Perivascular Arrest of CD8+ T Cells Is a Signature of Experimental Cerebral Malaria. PLoS pathogens. 2015;11(11):e1005210. PMID: 26562533
• Gallego-Delgado J, Baravian C, Edagha I, Ty MC, Ruiz-Ortega M, Xu W, et al. Angiotensin II Moderately Decreases Plasmodium Infection and Experimental Cerebral Malaria in Mice. PloS one. 2015;10(9):e0138191. PMID: 26376293
• Erath J, Gallego-Delgado J, Xu W, Andriani G, Tanghe S, Gurova KV, et al. Small-molecule xenomycins inhibit all stages of the Plasmodium life cycle. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy. 2015;59(3):1427-34. PMID: 25512429
• Gallego-Delgado J, Ty M, Orengo JM, van de Hoef D, Rodriguez A. A surprising role for uric acid: the inflammatory malaria response. Current rheumatology reports. 2014;16(2):401. PMID: 24390755
• Gallego-Delgado J, Rodriguez A. Malaria and hypertension. Another co-evolutionary adaptation? Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology. 2014;4:121. PMID: 25232536
• Lazaro A, Alvarez-Llamas G, Gallego-Delgado J, de la Cuesta F, Osende J, Barderas ME, et al. Pharmacoproteomics in cardiac hypertrophy and atherosclerosis. Cardiovascular & hematological disorders drug targets. 2009;9(2):141-8. PMID: 19519373
• Gallego-Delgado J, Connolly SB, Lazaro A, Sadlier D, Kieran NE, Sugrue DD, et al. Transcriptome of hypertension-induced left ventricular hypertrophy and its regression by antihypertensive therapies. Hypertension research  2009;32(5):347-57. PMID: 1932556
• Lazaro A, Gallego-Delgado J, Osende JI, Egido J, Vivanco F. Analysis of antihypertensive drugs in the heart of animal models: a proteomic approach. Methods in molecular biology. 2007;357:45-58. PMID: 17172677
• Hernandez-Vargas P, Ortiz-Munoz G, Lopez-Franco O, Suzuki Y, Gallego-Delgado J, Sanjuan G, et al. Fcgamma receptor deficiency confers protection against atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E knockout mice. Circulation research. 2006;99(11):1188-96. PMID: 17053192
• Gallego-Delgado J, Lazaro A, Osende JI, Esteban V, Barderas MG, Gomez-Guerrero C, et al. Proteomic analysis of early left ventricular hypertrophy secondary to hypertension: modulation by antihypertensive therapies. JASN. 2006;17(12 Suppl 3):S159-64. PMID: 17130255
• Gallego-Delgado J, Lazaro A, Osende JI, Barderas MG, Duran MC, Vivanco F, et al. Comparison of the protein profile of established and regressed hypertension-induced left ventricular hypertrophy. Journal of proteome research. 2006;5(2):404-13. PMID: 16457607
• Gallego-Delgado J, Lazaro A, Gomez-Garre D, Osende JI, Gonzalez-Rubio ML, Herraiz M, et al. Long-term organ protection by doxazosin and/or quinapril as antihypertensive therapy. Journal of nephrology. 2006;19(5):588-98. PMID: 17136686
• Esteban V, Gallego-Delgado J, Lazaro A, Osende J, Mezzano S, Egido J, et al. Long-term treatment with an ACE inhibitor or an AT1 antagonist avoids hypertension-induced inflammation in the kidney. Journal of nephrology. 2006;19(6):725-31 PMID: 17173244
• Lazaro A, Gallego-Delgado J, Justo P, Esteban V, Osende J, Mezzano S, et al. Long-term blood pressure control prevents oxidative renal injury. Antioxidants & redox signaling. 2005;7(9-10):1285-93. PMID: 16115034
• Gallego-Delgado J, Lazaro A, Osende JI, Barderas MG, Blanco-Colio LM, Duran MC, et al. Proteomic approach in the search of new cardiovascular biomarkers. Kidney international Supplement. 2005;(99):S103-7. PMID: 16336560
• Tejera N, Gomez-Garre D, Lazaro A, Gallego-Delgado J, Alonso C, Blanco J, et al. Persistent proteinuria up-regulates angiotensin II type 2 receptor and induces apoptosis in proximal tubular cells. The American journal of pathology. 2004;164(5):1817-26. PMID: 15111328
• Soto K, Gomez-Garre D, Largo R, Gallego-Delgado J, Tejera N, Catalan MP, et al. Tight blood pressure control decreases apoptosis during renal damage. Kidney international. 2004;65(3):811-22. PMID: 14871401
• Gonzalez-Barderas M, Gallego-Delgado J, Mas S, Duran MC, Lazaro A, Hernandez-Merida S, et al. Isolation of circulating human monocytes with high purity for proteomic analysis. Proteomics. 2004;4(2):432-7. PMID: 14760713
• Suzuki Y, Gomez-Guerrero C, Shirato I, Lopez-Franco O, Gallego-Delgado J, Sanjuan G, et al. Pre-existing glomerular immune complexes induce polymorphonuclear cell recruitment through an Fc receptor-dependent respiratory burst: potential role in the perpetuation of immune nephritis. Journal of immunology. 2003;170(6):3243-53. PMID: 12626583
• Duran MC, Mas S, Martin-Ventura JL, Meilhac O, Michel JB, Gallego-Delgado J, et al. Proteomic analysis of human vessels: application to atherosclerotic plaques. Proteomics. 2003;3(6):973-8. PMID: 12833522

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