Environmental Health Sciences Research Center

University of Iowa College of Public Health

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Josalyn Cho, MD

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Dr. Cho is a pulmonologist and Co-Leader of the EHSRC’s Inflammation and Innate Immunity Thematic Area (III-TA). She leads a basic and translational immunology research program focused on understanding the pathogenesis of inflammatory lung diseases. Using both mouse and human models of disease, her laboratory investigates the contributions of innate and adaptive immune responses to allergic asthma, smoking- and vaping-related diseases, and respiratory viral infection.

Selected Publications:

  1. Murphy RC, López-Martínez C, Kooistra T, Lai Y, Liu M, Dela Cruz PC, Powell WT, Benson B, Krueger M, Alladina J, Cho JL, Piliponsky AM, Debley JS, Sehmi R, Gauvreau GM, Medoff BD, Gharib SA, Hallstrand TS. (2026) Innate Immune Cell and Epithelial Subsets Coordinate Airway Responses to Allergen. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. 2026 Jul 15; ahead of print. DOI: 10.1093/ajrcmb/aanag149. PMID: 42458790
  2. Hutchins Z, Chen X, Siddique AE, Thorne PS, Salem AK, Cho JL, Adamcakova-Dodd A, Wang Y. (2026) Quantitative Proteomic Profiling of Bronchoalveolar Lavage-Derived Extracellular Vesicles in a Murine Asthma Model. Chemical Research in Toxicology. 39(5):819-823. DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.6c00094.
  3. Sherman A, Medoff BD, Cho JL. (2025) To B or Not to B: Germinal Center Responses in Progressive Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 211(10):1742-1744. DOI: 10.1164/rccm.202508-1969ED. PMID: 40920908. PMCID: PMC12555036
  4. Kooistra T, Saez B, Roche M, Egea-Zorrilla A, Li D, Anketell D, Nguyen N, Villoria J, Gillis J, Petri E, Vera L, Blasco-Iturri Z, Smith NP, Alladina J, Zhang Y, Vinarsky V, Shivaraju M, Sheng SL, Chen M, Gonzalez-Celeiro M, Mou H, Waghray A, Lin B, Paksa A, Yanger K, Tata PR, Zhao R, Causton B, Zulueta JJ, Prosper F, Cho JL, Villani AC, Haber A, Rajagopal J, Medoff BD, Pardo-Saganta A. (2025) Airway basal stem cells are necessary for the maintenance of functional intraepithelial airway macrophages. Cell Reports. 44(6):115860. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115860. PMID: 40512621. PMCID: PMC12286423
  5. Alladina J, Medoff BD, Cho JL. (2025) Innate Immunity and Asthma Exacerbations: Insights From Human Models. Immunological Reviews. 330(1):e70016. DOI: 10.1111/imr.70016. PMID: 40087882. PMCID: PMC11922041
  6. Bick F, Brenis Gómez CM, Lammens I, Van Moorleghem J, De Wolf C, Dupont S, Dumoutier L, Smith NP, Villani AC, Browaeys R, Alladina J, Haring AM, Medoff BD, Cho JL, Bigirimana R, Vieira J, Hammad H, Blanchetot C, Schuijs MJ, Lambrecht BN. (2024) IL-2 family cytokines IL-9 and IL-21 differentially regulate innate and adaptive type 2 immunity in asthma. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 154(5):1129-1145. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2024.07.024. PMID: 39147327. PMCID: PMC12255943
  7. Clay S, Alladina J, Smith NP, Visness CM, Wood RA, O’Connor GT, Cohen RT, Khurana Hershey GK, Kercsmar CM, Gruchalla RS, Gill MA, Liu AH, Kim H, Kattan M, Bacharier LB, Rastogi D, Rivera-Spoljaric K, Robison RG, Gergen PJ, Busse WW, Villani AC, Cho JL, Medoff BD, Gern JE, Jackson DJ, Ober C, Dapas M. (2024) Gene-based association study of rare variants in children of diverse ancestries implicates TNFRSF21 in the development of allergic asthma. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 153(3):809-820. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2023.10.023. PMID: 37944567. PMCID: PMC10939893
  8. Corleis B, Tzouanas CN, Wadsworth MH 2nd, Cho JL, Linder AH, Schiff AE, Zessin B, Stei F, Dorhoi A, Dickey AK, Medoff BD, Shalek AK, Kwon DS. (2023) Tobacco smoke exposure recruits inflammatory airspace monocytes that establish permissive lung niches for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Science Translational Medicine. 15(725):eadg3451. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adg3451. PMID: 38055798. PMCID: PMC12289333
  9. Halstead KM, Wetzel EM, Cho JL, Stanhewicz AE. (2023) Sex Differences in Oxidative Stress-Mediated Reductions in Microvascular Endothelial Function in Young Adult e-Cigarette Users. Hypertension. 80(12):2641-2649. DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.123.21684. PMID: 37800370. PMCID: PMC10848654
  10. Alladina J, Smith NP, Kooistra T, Slowikowski K, Kernin IJ, Deguine J, Keen HL, Manakongtreecheep K, Tantivit J, Rahimi RA, Sheng SL, Nguyen ND, Haring AM, Giacona FL, Hariri LP, Xavier RJ, Luster AD, Villani AC, Cho JL, Medoff BD. (2023) A human model of asthma exacerbation reveals transcriptional programs and cell circuits specific to allergic asthma. Science Immunology. 8(83):eabq6352. DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abq6352. PMID: 37146132. PMCID: PMC10440046
  11. Rahimi RA, Cho JL, Jakubzick CV, Khader SA, Lambrecht BN, Lloyd CM, Molofsky AB, Talbot S, Bonham CA, Drake WP, Sperling AI, Singer BD. (2022) Advancing Lung Immunology Research: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. 67(1):e1-e18. DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2022-0167ST. PMID: 35776495. PMCID: PMC9273224
  12. Cho JL, Villacreses R, Nagpal P, Guo J, Pezzulo AA, Thurman AL, Hamzeh NY, Blount RJ, Fortis S, Hoffman EA, Zabner J, Comellas AP. (2022) Quantitative Chest CT Assessment of Small Airways Disease in Post-Acute SARS-CoV-2 Infection. Radiology. 304(1):185-192. DOI: 10.1148/radiol.212170. PMID: 35289657. PMCID: PMC9270680
  13. Corleis B, Cho JL, Gates SJ, Linder AH, Dickey A, Lisanti-Park AC, Schiff AE, Ghebremichael M, Kohli P, Winkler T, Harris RS, Medoff BD, Kwon DS. (2021) Smoking and Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 Infection Promote Retention of CD8+ T Cells in the Airway Mucosa. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. 65(5):513-520. DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2021-0168OC. PMID: 34166603. PMCID: PMC8641855
  14. Alladina JW, Giacona FL, White EB, Brait KL, Abe EA, Michelhaugh SA, Hibbert KA, Januzzi JL, Thompson BT, Cho JL, Medoff BD. (2021) Soluble Suppression of Tumorigenicity-2 Associates With Ventilator Dependence in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Respiratory Failure. Critical Care Explorations. 3(7):e0480. DOI: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000480. PMID: 34235459. PMCID: PMC8245109
  15. Alladina J, Levy SD, Cho JL, Brait KL, Rao SR, Camacho A, Hibbert KA, Harris RS, Medoff BD, Januzzi JL, Thompson BT, Bajwa EK. (2021) Plasma Soluble Suppression of Tumorigenicity-2 Associates with Ventilator Liberation in Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 203(10):1257-1265. DOI: 10.1164/rccm.202005-1951OC. PMID: 33400890. PMCID: PMC8456472
  16. Kohli P, Kelly VJ, Hibbert KA, Corleis B, Kone M, Cho JL, DeFaria-Yeh D, Kwon DS, Medoff BD, Harris RS, Winkler T. (2021) PET Imaging Reveals Early Pulmonary Perfusion Abnormalities in HIV Infection Similar to Smoking. Journal of Nuclear Medicine. 62(3):405-411. DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.120.245977. PMID: 32764123. PMCID: PMC8049351
  17. Schiff AE, Linder AH, Luhembo SN, Banning S, Deymier MJ, Diefenbach TJ, Dickey AK, Tsibris AM, Balazs AB, Cho JL, Medoff BD, Walzl G, Wilkinson RJ, Burgers WA, Corleis B, Kwon DS. (2021) T cell-tropic HIV efficiently infects alveolar macrophages through contact with infected CD4+ T cells. Scientific Reports. 11(1):3890. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-82066-x. PMID: 33594125. PMCID: PMC7886866
  18. Faustino LD, Griffith JW, Rahimi RA, Nepal K, Hamilos DL, Cho JL, Medoff BD, Moon JJ, Vignali DAA, Luster AD. (2020) Interleukin-33 activates regulatory T cells to suppress innate γδ T cell responses in the lung. Nature Immunology. 21(11):1371-1383. DOI: 10.1038/s41590-020-0785-3. PMID: 32989331. PMCID: PMC7578082
  19. Channick CL, Garrison G, Huie TJ, Narewski E, Caplan-Shaw C, Cho J, Rafeq S, Alalawi R, Alashram R, Bailey KL, Carmona EM, Habib N, Kapolka R, Krishnan A, Lammi MR, Peck T, Pennington KM, Rali P, Small BL, Swenson C, Witkin A, Hayes MM. (2020) ATS Core Curriculum 2020. Adult Pulmonary Medicine. ATS Scholar. 1(4):416-435. DOI: 10.34197/ats-scholar.2020-0016RE. PMID: 33870311. PMCID: PMC8015759