American University of Beirut

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Rese​arch Area

Research P​rojects

Research Projects

• Functional and Genetic study of Primary Immunodeficiency Patients
• Longitudinal Immune response to natural infection with SARS-CoV-2 and vaccination with the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA-based vaccine ​

Selected Publications​

1-Challenges in glioblastoma immunotherapy: mechanisms of resistance and therapeutic approaches to overcome them. Karl John Habashy, Rana Mansour, Charbel Moussalem, Raymond Sawaya, and Michel J. Massaad. British Journal of Cancer. 2022 Oct;127(6):976-987. doi: 10.1038/s41416-022-01864-w.

2-Diagnosis and Treatment of a Patient with SCID Due to a Novel Homozygous Mutation in IL-7Ra. Rana Mansour, Yasmin El Bsat, Anthony Fadel, Youmna El-Orfali, Dolly Noun, Nidal Tarek, Nabil Kabbara, Miguel Abboud, Michel J. Massaad. Frontiers in Immunology. 2022 Mar 28;13:867837. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.867837. eCollection 2022.PMID: 35418989

3-Combined immunodeficiency due to a mutation in the γ1 subunit of the coat protein I complex. Bainter W., Platt C.D., Park S-Y., Stafstrom K., Wallace J.G., Peters Z.T., Massaad M.J., Becuwe M., Salinas S.A., Jones J., Beaussant-Cohen S., Jaber F., Yuang J-S., Walther T.C., Orange J.S., Rao C., Rakoff-Nahoum S., Tsokos M., Nasseem S.R., Al-Tamemi S.,  Chou J., Hsu V.W., Geha R.S. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2021 Feb 1;131(3):e140494. doi: 10.1172/JCI140494

4-Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome in four male siblings from a consanguineous family from Lebanon. Mansour R., El-Orfali Y., Saber A., Noun D., Youssef N., Youssef Y., Hanna-Wakim R., Dbaibo G., Abboud M., Massaad M.J. Clinical Immunology. 2020 Aug 16:108573. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2020.108573. Online ahead of print.PMID: 32814211

5-Frequency and Manifestations of Autoimmunity Among Children Registered in the Kuwait National Primary Immunodeficiency Registry. Massaad M.J., Zainal M., Al-Herz W. Frontiers in Immunology. 2020 Jun 2;11:1119. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01119. eCollection 2020. PMID: 32582199 

6-Inherited human IFNg deficiency underlies mycobacterial disease. Kerner G; Rosain J; Guérin A; AlKhabaz A; Oleaga-Quintas C; Rapaport F; Massaad M.J.; Ding JY; Khan T; Al Ali F; Rahman M; Deswarte C; Martinez-Barricarte R; Geha RS; Jeanne-Julien V; Garcia DST; Chi CY; Yang R; Roynard M; Fleckenstein B; Rozenberg F; Boisson-Dupuis S; Ku CL; Seeleuthner Y; Beziat V; Marr N; Abel L; Al-Herz W; Casanova JL; Bustamante J. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2020 Mar 12. pii: 135460. doi: 10.1172/JCI135460. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 32163377.

7-Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome caused by a homozygous FasL mutation that disrupts FasL assembly. Sobh A., Crestani E., Cangemi B., Kane J., Chou J., Pai SY., Notarangelo LD., Al-Herz W., Geha R.S.*, Massaad M.J.*Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. October 9. pii: S0091-6749(15)01249-X

8-Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis associated with an SH2 domain gain of function mutation that enhances STAT1 phosphorylation. Sobh A., Chou J., Schneider L., Geha R Massaad M.J. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Feb 29. pii: S0091-6749(16)00131-7 ​

9-Deficiency of base excision repair enzyme NEIL3 drives increased predisposition to autoimmunity. Massaad M.J., Zhou J, Tsuchimoto D, Chou J, Jabara H, Janssen E, Glauzy S, Olson BG, Morbach H, Ohsumi TK, Schmitz K, Kyriacos M, Kane J, Torisu K, Nakabeppu Y, Notarangelo LD, Chouery E, Megarbane A, Kang PB, Al-Idrissi E, Aldhekri H, Meffre E, Mizui M, Tsokos GC, Manis JP, Al-Herz W, Wallace SS, Geha RS. Journal of Clinical Investigation. Nov 1;126(11):4219-4236. ​

Awards