Dr Dom Somma

  • Honorary Lecturer (School of Infection & Immunity)

Biography

I completed my PhD in Molecular Oncology and Endocrinology at the "Federico II" University of Naples, focusing on NF-κB activation and IL-17 signalling mechanisms in fibroblasts. During my postdoctoral fellowship at the same institution, I investigated the interconnection between the IL-17 pathway and antiviral immune response, STATs transcription factors response in primary immunodeficiency. Subsequently, I held research positions at Newcastle University and the University of Glasgow, where I explored post-translational modifications (such as ubiquitination and phosphorylation) in signalling pathways in macrophages. In the last 5 years I am investigating the role of dendritic cells in Rheumatoid Arthritis, in prof. Kurowska-Stolarska’s Lab. We employ single cell RNAseq to dissect the cell composition and function in healthy synovial membrane compared to inflamed and in disease remission synovium from RA and PsA patients. I am responsible for both wet lab experiments and dry lab analysis. This project is founded by RACE and GSK, and it is in collaboration with Prof S Alivernini (Hospital Gemelli, Rome) and Prof T Otto (University of Glasgow). In addition, I am providing support, training, and lab supervision for researchers working on other similar projects funded by FOREUM and Novartis.

Research interests

My research interests focus on the immune changes at molecular level, spanning from receptor signalling to transcription factors, and mRNA regulation. The cellular responses within tissues are intricately governed by a network of signalling molecules. Cytokines serve as key mediators, orchestrating communication between cells. Signals are transduced via adaptor proteins and post-translational modifications play a crucial role in fine-tuning these protein functions. This leads to transcription factors activation, which in turn act as molecular switches, regulating the expression of specific genes in response to cellular insults. Additionally, mRNA regulation mechanisms, such as stability control and translational regulation, finely tune gene expression profiles to meet the dynamic demands of the cellular environment. My research focuses on elucidating the intricate interplay of these molecular mechanisms in immune cells, particularly in the context of inflammatory diseases.

In this context the omics technologies, such as transcriptomics and proteomics, provides powerful tools to comprehensively dissect cellular responses, for this reason, I have specialized in the computational analysis of high-throughput biological data, particularly single-cell sequencing from human tissues. These technologies are changing rapidly, nowadays we are able not only to retrieve the transcriptomic information from single cells, but also open chromatin genomic regions associated with transcription factors, and proteomic changes with CITEseq. I recently won a grant to investigate the full-length mRNA isoforms changes at different disease stage of Rheumatoid Arthritis. I also collaborate on the development of a new bioinformatic tools, to improve differential expression methods in scRNAseq data.

Links

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013
Number of items: 16.

2024

MacDonald, L. et al. (2024) Synovial tissue myeloid dendritic cell subsets exhibit distinct tissue-niche localization and function in health and rheumatoid arthritis. Immunity, 57(12), 2843-2862.e12. (doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2024.11.004) (PMID:39609125)

Agboraw, E. et al. (2024) paraCell: A novel software tool for the interactive analysis and visualization of standard and dual host-parasite single cell RNA-Seq data. bioRxiv, (doi: 10.1101/2024.08.29.610375)

2022

Olsson, A. M. et al. (2022) miR-155 overexpressing monocytes resemble HLA highISG15 + synovial tissue macrophages from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and induce polyfunctional CD4+ T cell activation. Clinical and Experimental Immunology, 207(2), pp. 188-198. (doi: 10.1093/cei/uxab016) (PMID:35020867) (PMCID:PMC8982969)

2021

Somma, D. , Kok, F. O., Kerrigan, D., Wells, C. A. and Carmody, R. J. (2021) Defining the role of nuclear factor NF-κB p105 subunit in human macrophage by transcriptomic analysis of NFKB1 knockout THP-1 cells. Frontiers in Immunology, 12, 669906. (doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.669906) (PMCID:PMC8548695)

MacDonald, L. et al. (2021) COVID-19 and RA share SPP1 myeloid pathway that drives PD-L1pos neutrophils and CD14pos monocytes. JCI Insight, 6(13), e147413. (doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.147413) (PMID:34143756) (PMCID:PMC8328085)

2020

Mitxitorena, I., Somma, D. , Mitchell, J. P., Lepistö, M., Tyrchan, C., Smith, E. L., Kiely, P. A., Walden, H. , Keeshan, K. and Carmody, R. J. (2020) The deubiquitinase USP7 uses a distinct ubiquitin-like domain to deubiquitinate NF-ĸB subunits. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 295(33), pp. 11754-11763. (doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA120.014113) (PMID:32587091) (PMCID:PMC7450122)

Alivernini, S. et al. (2020) Distinct synovial tissue macrophage subsets regulate inflammation and remission in rheumatoid arthritis. Nature Medicine, 26(8), pp. 1295-1306. (doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0939-8) (PMID:32601335)

2019

Collins, P. E., Somma, D. , Kerrigan, D., Herrington, F., Keeshan, K. R. , Nibbs, R. J.B. and Carmody, R. J. (2019) The IκB-protein BCL-3 controls toll-like receptor-induced MAPK activity by promoting TPL-2 degradation in the nucleus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(51), pp. 25828-25838. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1900408116) (PMID:31772019) (PMCID:PMC6926074)

Smith, E. L., Somma, D. , Kerrigan, D., McIntyre, Z., Cole, J. J., Liang, K. L., Kiely, P. A., Keeshan, K. and Carmody, R. J. (2019) The regulation of sequence specific NF-ĸB DNA binding and transcription by IKKβ Phosphorylation of NF-ĸB p50 at Serine 80. Nucleic Acids Research, 47(21), pp. 11151-11161. (doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz873) (PMID:31598684) (PMCID:PMC6868378)

2018

Barra, G. et al. (2018) Sphingosine Kinases promote IL-17 expression in human T lymphocytes. Scientific Reports, 8, 13233. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-31666-1) (PMID:30185808) (PMCID:PMC6125344)

2016

Ruocco, N., Varrella, S., Romano, G., Ianora, A., Bentley, M. G., Somma, D. , Leonardi, A., Mellone, S., Zuppa, A. and Costantini, M. (2016) Diatom-derived oxylipins induce cell death in sea urchin embryos activating caspase-8 and caspase 3/7. Aquatic Toxicology, 176, pp. 128-140. (doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2016.04.012) (PMID:27130972)

Giardino, G. et al. (2016) Targeted next-generation sequencing revealed MYD88 deficiency in a child with chronic yersiniosis and granulomatous lymphadenitis. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 137(5), 1591-1595.e4. (doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2015.09.050) (PMID:26632527)

Giardino, G. et al. (2016) Novel STAT1 gain-of-function mutation and suppurative infections. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 27(2), pp. 220-223. (doi: 10.1111/pai.12496) (PMID:26467763)

2015

Somma, D. et al. (2015) CIKS/DDX3X interaction controls the stability of the Zc3h12a mRNA Induced by IL-17. Journal of Immunology, 194(7), pp. 3286-3294. (doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1401589) (PMID:25710910) (PMCID:PMC4369453)

2014

Sabbatino, F. et al. (2014) Effect of p53 activity on the sensitivity of human glioblastoma cells to PARP‐1 inhibitor in combination with topoisomerase i inhibitor or radiation. Cytometry Part A, 85(11), pp. 953-961. (doi: 10.1002/cyto.a.22563) (PMID:25182801) (PMCID:PMC8728894)

2013

Volpe, V., Raia, Z., Sanguigno, L., Somma, D. , Mastrovito, P., Moscato, F., Mellone, S., Leonardi, A. and Pacifico, F. (2013) NGAL controls the metastatic potential of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cells. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 98(1), pp. 228-235. (doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-2528) (PMID:23150684)

This list was generated on Mon May 12 21:35:05 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles
Number of items: 16.

Articles

MacDonald, L. et al. (2024) Synovial tissue myeloid dendritic cell subsets exhibit distinct tissue-niche localization and function in health and rheumatoid arthritis. Immunity, 57(12), 2843-2862.e12. (doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2024.11.004) (PMID:39609125)

Agboraw, E. et al. (2024) paraCell: A novel software tool for the interactive analysis and visualization of standard and dual host-parasite single cell RNA-Seq data. bioRxiv, (doi: 10.1101/2024.08.29.610375)

Olsson, A. M. et al. (2022) miR-155 overexpressing monocytes resemble HLA highISG15 + synovial tissue macrophages from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and induce polyfunctional CD4+ T cell activation. Clinical and Experimental Immunology, 207(2), pp. 188-198. (doi: 10.1093/cei/uxab016) (PMID:35020867) (PMCID:PMC8982969)

Somma, D. , Kok, F. O., Kerrigan, D., Wells, C. A. and Carmody, R. J. (2021) Defining the role of nuclear factor NF-κB p105 subunit in human macrophage by transcriptomic analysis of NFKB1 knockout THP-1 cells. Frontiers in Immunology, 12, 669906. (doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.669906) (PMCID:PMC8548695)

MacDonald, L. et al. (2021) COVID-19 and RA share SPP1 myeloid pathway that drives PD-L1pos neutrophils and CD14pos monocytes. JCI Insight, 6(13), e147413. (doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.147413) (PMID:34143756) (PMCID:PMC8328085)

Mitxitorena, I., Somma, D. , Mitchell, J. P., Lepistö, M., Tyrchan, C., Smith, E. L., Kiely, P. A., Walden, H. , Keeshan, K. and Carmody, R. J. (2020) The deubiquitinase USP7 uses a distinct ubiquitin-like domain to deubiquitinate NF-ĸB subunits. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 295(33), pp. 11754-11763. (doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA120.014113) (PMID:32587091) (PMCID:PMC7450122)

Alivernini, S. et al. (2020) Distinct synovial tissue macrophage subsets regulate inflammation and remission in rheumatoid arthritis. Nature Medicine, 26(8), pp. 1295-1306. (doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0939-8) (PMID:32601335)

Collins, P. E., Somma, D. , Kerrigan, D., Herrington, F., Keeshan, K. R. , Nibbs, R. J.B. and Carmody, R. J. (2019) The IκB-protein BCL-3 controls toll-like receptor-induced MAPK activity by promoting TPL-2 degradation in the nucleus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(51), pp. 25828-25838. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1900408116) (PMID:31772019) (PMCID:PMC6926074)

Smith, E. L., Somma, D. , Kerrigan, D., McIntyre, Z., Cole, J. J., Liang, K. L., Kiely, P. A., Keeshan, K. and Carmody, R. J. (2019) The regulation of sequence specific NF-ĸB DNA binding and transcription by IKKβ Phosphorylation of NF-ĸB p50 at Serine 80. Nucleic Acids Research, 47(21), pp. 11151-11161. (doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz873) (PMID:31598684) (PMCID:PMC6868378)

Barra, G. et al. (2018) Sphingosine Kinases promote IL-17 expression in human T lymphocytes. Scientific Reports, 8, 13233. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-31666-1) (PMID:30185808) (PMCID:PMC6125344)

Ruocco, N., Varrella, S., Romano, G., Ianora, A., Bentley, M. G., Somma, D. , Leonardi, A., Mellone, S., Zuppa, A. and Costantini, M. (2016) Diatom-derived oxylipins induce cell death in sea urchin embryos activating caspase-8 and caspase 3/7. Aquatic Toxicology, 176, pp. 128-140. (doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2016.04.012) (PMID:27130972)

Giardino, G. et al. (2016) Targeted next-generation sequencing revealed MYD88 deficiency in a child with chronic yersiniosis and granulomatous lymphadenitis. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 137(5), 1591-1595.e4. (doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2015.09.050) (PMID:26632527)

Giardino, G. et al. (2016) Novel STAT1 gain-of-function mutation and suppurative infections. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 27(2), pp. 220-223. (doi: 10.1111/pai.12496) (PMID:26467763)

Somma, D. et al. (2015) CIKS/DDX3X interaction controls the stability of the Zc3h12a mRNA Induced by IL-17. Journal of Immunology, 194(7), pp. 3286-3294. (doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1401589) (PMID:25710910) (PMCID:PMC4369453)

Sabbatino, F. et al. (2014) Effect of p53 activity on the sensitivity of human glioblastoma cells to PARP‐1 inhibitor in combination with topoisomerase i inhibitor or radiation. Cytometry Part A, 85(11), pp. 953-961. (doi: 10.1002/cyto.a.22563) (PMID:25182801) (PMCID:PMC8728894)

Volpe, V., Raia, Z., Sanguigno, L., Somma, D. , Mastrovito, P., Moscato, F., Mellone, S., Leonardi, A. and Pacifico, F. (2013) NGAL controls the metastatic potential of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cells. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 98(1), pp. 228-235. (doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-2528) (PMID:23150684)

This list was generated on Mon May 12 21:35:05 2025 BST.

Grants

Grants and Awards listed are those received whilst working with the University of Glasgow.

  • Identifying synovial and tenosynovial cellular and molecular mechanisms and biomarkers of transition from pre-clinical RA to RA
    Versus Arthritis
    2024 - 2028
     
  • Quality not quantity: evaluating the role of immune mRNA isoforms at single-cell level in inflammatory arthritis
    Tenovus Scotland
    2024 - 2024
     

Supervision

Cheng, Yiyi
Improving Differential Expression in scRNAseq data and understanding of cell-cell communication

Coletto, Lavinia Agra
Identifying the mechanisms and biomarkers of transition from Psoriasis (PsO) to Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA)

Professional activities & recognition

Prizes, awards & distinctions

  • 2019: John Robertson Bequest Award
  • 2019: Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Small Grant Fund
  • 2015: "Somma et al 2015" has been recommended in F1000Prime as being of special significance in its field (F1000)

Selected international presentations

  • 2023: EULAR Synovitis Study Group (Milan - Italy)
  • 2022: American College of Rheumatology (ACR) conference (Philadelphia - USA)

Dr Dom Somma on Twitter