Jonathan Esensten, MD, PhD, is an affiliate investigator at Gladstone Institutes. He is also an assistant professor of laboratory medicine at UC San Francisco (UCSF), and director of the Advanced Biotherapy Center at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel.
His research is focused on the development and manufacturing of cell and gene therapies to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer. He has directed the development and manufacturing of multiple cell and gene therapies for Phase I clinical trials. He has expertise in closed and automated bioreactor systems, quality control assay development, quality assurance for Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) manufacturing, and regulatory interactions with the US Food and Drug Administration.
Esensten completed his bachelor’s degree at Harvard University, and a combined MD and PhD in immunology at UCSF. He was a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fellow from 2016 to 2019.
Publications
- Polyclonal Regulatory T Cell Manufacturing Under cGMP: A Decade of Experience. Balcerek J, Shy BR, Putnam AL, Masiello LM, Lares A, Dekovic F, Acevedo L, Lee MR, Nguyen V, Liu W, Paruthiyil S, Xu J, Leinbach AS, Bluestone JA, Tang Q, Esensten JH. Front Immunol. 2021; 12:744763.
- The effect of low-dose IL-2 and Treg adoptive cell therapy in patients with type 1 diabetes. Dong S, Hiam-Galvez KJ, Mowery CT, Herold KC, Gitelman SE, Esensten JH, Liu W, Lares AP, Leinbach AS, Lee M, Nguyen V, Tamaki SJ, Tamaki W, Tamaki CM, Mehdizadeh M, Putnam AL, Spitzer MH, Ye CJ, Tang Q, Bluestone JA. JCI Insight. 2021 09 22; 6(18).
- Characteristics of High-Titer Convalescent Plasma and Antibody Dynamics After Administration in Patients With Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019. Bainbridge ED, Hsue PY, Esensten JH, Lynch KL, Hendrickson CM, Doernberg SB, Fung M, Chin-Hong P, Di Germanio C, Norris PJ, Simmons G, Glidden DV, Luetkemeyer AF. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2021 Aug; 8(8):ofab385.
- Outcomes after ultramassive transfusion in the modern era: An Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma multicenter study. Matthay ZA, Hellmann ZJ, Callcut RA, Matthay EC, Nunez-Garcia B, Duong W, Nahmias J, LaRiccia AK, Spalding MC, Dalavayi SS, Reynolds JK, Lesch H, Wong YM, Chipman AM, Kozar RA, Penaloza L, Mukherjee K, Taghlabi K, Guidry CA, Seng SS, Ratnasekera A, Motameni A, Udekwu P, Madden K, Moore SA, Kirsch J, Goddard J, Haan J, Lightwine K, Ontengco JB, Cullinane DC, Spitzer SA, Kubasiak JC, Gish J, Hazelton JP, Byskosh AZ, Posluszny JA, Ross EE, Park JJ, Robinson B, Abel MK, Fields AT, Esensten JH, Nambiar A, Moore J, Hardman C, Terse P, Luo-Owen X, Stiles A, Pearce B, Tann K, Abdul Jawad K, Ruiz G, Kornblith LZ. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2021 07 01; 91(1):24-33.
- Hospital-Based Donor Recruitment and Predonation Serologic Testing for COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma. Balcerek J, Trejo E, Levine K, Couey P, Kornberg ZV, Rogine C, Young C, Li PJ, Shy BR, Taylor JE, Bakhtary S, Friedlander T, Lynch KL, Bern C, Esensten JH. Am J Clin Pathol. 2021 Mar 15; 155(4):515-521.
- Magnitude and Kinetics of Anti-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Antibody Responses and Their Relationship to Disease Severity. Lynch KL, Whitman JD, Lacanienta NP, Beckerdite EW, Kastner SA, Shy BR, Goldgof GM, Levine AG, Bapat SP, Stramer SL, Esensten JH, Hightower AW, Bern C, Wu AHB. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 01 27; 72(2):301-308.
- Processing laboratory considerations for multi-center cellular therapy clinical trials: a report from the Consortium for Pediatric Cellular Immunotherapy. Lindgren C, Leinbach A, Annis J, Tanna J, Zhang N, Esensten JH, Hanley PJ. Cytotherapy. 2021 02; 23(2):157-164.
- Magnitude and kinetics of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses and their relationship to disease severity. Lynch KL, Whitman JD, Lacanienta NP, Beckerdite EW, Kastner SA, Shy BR, Goldgof GM, Levine AG, Bapat SP, Stramer SL, Esensten JH, Hightower AW, Bern C, Wu AHB. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Jul 14.
- Magnitude and kinetics of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses and their relationship to disease severity. Kara Lake Lynch, Jeffrey D. Whitman, Noreen P Lacanienta, Erica W Beckerdite, Shannon A Kastner, Brian R Shy, Gregory M Goldgof, Andrew G Levine, Sagar P Bapat, Susan L Stramer, Jonathan H Esensten, Allen W Hightower, Caryn Bern, Alan HB Wu. medRxiv. 2020 Jun 9; 2020.06.03.20121525.
- 253-LB: Effect of Combined Low Dose IL-2 plus Polyclonal Tregs in Type 1 Diabetes Patients. SHEN DONG, CODY T. MOWERY, KEVAN C. HEROLD, STEPHEN E. GITELMAN, JONATHAN H. ESENSTEN, WEIHONG LIU, ANGELA P. LARES, ASHLEY S. LEINBACH, MICHAEL R. LEE, VINH Q. NGUYEN, AMY L. PUTNAM, JIMMIE YE, QIZHI TANG, JEFFREY BLUESTONE. Diabetes. 2019 Jun 1; 68(Supplement 1):253-lb.
- Development of a large-scale H3.3K27M-specific TCR-transduced T cell manufacturing method for adoptive cell therapy in HLA-A2+ patients with diffuse midline glioma. K. Okada, A. Nguyen, P. Watchmaker, J. Xu, F. Ramsdell, J.H. Esensten, L.H. Butterfield, H. Okada. Cytotherapy. 2019 May 1; 21(5):s36.
- Regulatory T-cell therapy for autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases: The next frontier. Esensten JH, Muller YD, Bluestone JA, Tang Q. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2018 12; 142(6):1710-1718.
- Reprogramming human T cell function and specificity with non-viral genome targeting. Roth TL, Puig-Saus C, Yu R, Shifrut E, Carnevale J, Li PJ, Hiatt J, Saco J, Krystofinski P, Li H, Tobin V, Nguyen DN, Lee MR, Putnam AL, Ferris AL, Chen JW, Schickel JN, Pellerin L, Carmody D, Alkorta-Aranburu G, Del Gaudio D, Matsumoto H, Morell M, Mao Y, Cho M, Quadros RM, Gurumurthy CB, Smith B, Haugwitz M, Hughes SH, Weissman JS, Schumann K, Esensten JH, May AP, Ashworth A, Kupfer GM, Greeley SAW, Bacchetta R, Meffre E, Roncarolo MG, Romberg N, Herold KC, Ribas A, Leonetti MD, Marson A. Nature. 2018 07; 559(7714):405-409.
- 319 Developing a database to track critical parameters for clinical regulatory T cell manufacturing. B.R. Shy, J. Whitman, A.L. Putnam, A. Lares, Q. Tang, J.H. Esensten. Cytotherapy. 2018 May 1; 20(5):s108.
- 66 Low levels of EBV detected by PCR during manufacturing of clinical-grade stimulated B cells despite treatment with antiviral drugs. K. Lee, Q. Tang, J.H. Esensten. Cytotherapy. 2017 May 1; 19(5):s35.
- Engineering Therapeutic T Cells: From Synthetic Biology to Clinical Trials. Esensten JH, Bluestone JA, Lim WA. Annu Rev Pathol. 2017 Jan 24; 12:305-330.
- CD28 Costimulation: From Mechanism to Therapy. Esensten JH, Helou YA, Chopra G, Weiss A, Bluestone JA. Immunity. 2016 05 17; 44(5):973-88.
- Cdk8 deletion in the Apc(Min) murine tumour model represses EZH2 activity and accelerates tumourigenesis. McCleland ML, Soukup TM, Liu SD, Esensten JH, de Sousa e Melo F, Yaylaoglu M, Warming S, Roose-Girma M, Firestein R. J Pathol. 2015 Dec; 237(4):508-19.
- Circulating proteolytic signatures of chemotherapy-induced cell death in humans discovered by N-terminal labeling. Wiita AP, Hsu GW, Lu CM, Esensten JH, Wells JA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 May 27; 111(21):7594-9.
- CD28-inducible transcription factor DEC1 is required for efficient autoreactive CD4+ T cell response. Martínez-Llordella M, Esensten JH, Bailey-Bucktrout SL, Lipsky RH, Marini A, Chen J, Mughal M, Mattson MP, Taub DD, Bluestone JA. J Exp Med. 2013 Jul 29; 210(8):1603-19.
- microRNA-17-92 regulates IL-10 production by regulatory T cells and control of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. de Kouchkovsky D, Esensten JH, Rosenthal WL, Morar MM, Bluestone JA, Jeker LT. J Immunol. 2013 Aug 15; 191(4):1594-605.
- Intrinsic and extrinsic control of peripheral T-cell tolerance by costimulatory molecules of the CD28/ B7 family. Bour-Jordan H, Esensten JH, Martinez-Llordella M, Penaranda C, Stumpf M, Bluestone JA. Immunol Rev. 2011 May; 241(1):180-205.
- Plasticity of human regulatory T cells in healthy subjects and patients with type 1 diabetes. McClymont SA, Putnam AL, Lee MR, Esensten JH, Liu W, Hulme MA, Hoffmüller U, Baron U, Olek S, Bluestone JA, Brusko TM. J Immunol. 2011 Apr 01; 186(7):3918-26.
- Plasticity of Human Regulatory T Cells - Characterization of IFN-?-Producing Cells. Stephanie McClymont, Amy Putnam, Michael Lee, Jonathan Esensten, Weihong Liu, Sven Olek, Udo Baron, Ulrich Hoffmuller, Jeffrey Bluestone, Todd Brusko. Clinical Immunology. 2010 Jan 1; 135:s5-s6.
- Regulatory T cells as therapeutic targets in rheumatoid arthritis. Esensten JH, Wofsy D, Bluestone JA. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2009 Oct; 5(10):560-5.
- T-bet-deficient NOD mice are protected from diabetes due to defects in both T cell and innate immune system function. Esensten JH, Lee MR, Glimcher LH, Bluestone JA. J Immunol. 2009 Jul 01; 183(1):75-82.
- NFAT5 binds to the TNF promoter distinctly from NFATp, c, 3 and 4, and activates TNF transcription during hypertonic stress alone. Esensten JH, Tsytsykova AV, Lopez-Rodriguez C, Ligeiro FA, Rao A, Goldfeld AE. Nucleic Acids Res. 2005; 33(12):3845-54.