Fondacija Lilic-Abinun

Desa Lilic and Mario Abinun qualified as medical doctors at Belgrade and Sarajevo University respectively (former Yugoslavia). Prior to moving to the UK in 1992, Desa Lilic worked at the Military Medical Academy (MMA) where she specialised in Clinical Immunology and conducted research under the guidance of Col Dr Aleksandar Dujic. Mario Abinun specialised as a pediatrician at the Institute of Mother and Child Health Care under Dr Mirko Mikuska.

From the very beginning, both Desa Lilic and Mario Abinun focused their clinical and research interests on immunology and were active participants of the then (and now) prestigious Yugoslav Immunology Society led by Professors Mirko Simic and Prof Mija Lukic and were founding members of the newly formed European Society for Immune Deficiency (ESID) which is now internationally renowned.

Prior to moving to the UK, Mario Abinun and his team conducted the first bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in a child with primary immune deficiency (PID) where the bone marrow was prepared by Desa Lilic and her team at the MMA. In 1992, they were invited by Professor Roland Levinsky to come to Newcastle, Mario Abinun to the newly set up NHS pediatric BMT Unit with Professor Andrew Cant, while Desa Lilic set up her research at Newcastle University with the help pf Dr Gavin Spickett and Professor Jane Calvert. Desa Llilic also set up and headed Clinical Immunology Diagnostic Laboratories at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and University Hospital of North Durham and set up specialised Candidiasis clinics at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle for patients with Chronic Candidiasis which were the focus of her academic research. In addition to significant achievements in the treatment and diagnosis of PIDs. Mario Abinun set up BMT in children with juvenile arthritis and other systemic autoimmune diseases.

​

Given their careers, commitments and enduring passion to understand immune mechanisms in clinical practice and PIDs, Desa Lilic and Mario Abinun were keen to contribute and support further advancement of all aspects of Clinical Immunology in Serbia where they trained and initiated their interests in this exciting field.

​

Most important research findings: 

• Frank L van de Veerdonk, Theo S Plantinga, Alexander Hoischen, Sanne P Smeekens, Leo A B Joosten, Christian Gilissen, Peer Arts, Diana C Rosentul, Andrew J Carmichael, Chantal A A Smits-van der Graaf, Bart Jan Kullberg, Jos W M van der Meer, Desa Lilic, Joris A Veltman, Mihai G Netea STAT1 mutations in autosomal dominant chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis . New Engl J Med 2011,365 (1):54-61; 

• Julie Toubiana, Satoshi Okada, Julia Hiller, Matias Oleastro, Macarena Lagos Gomez, Juan Carlos Aldave Becerra, Marie Ouachée-Chardin, Fanny Fouyssac, Katta Mohan Girisha, Amos Etzioni, Joris Van Montfrans, Yildiz Camcioglu, Leigh Ann Kerns, Bernd Belohradsky, Stéphane Blanche, Aziz Bousfiha, Carlos Rodriguez-Gallego, Isabelle Meyts, Kai Kisand, Janine Reichenbach, Ellen D Renner, Sergio Rosenzweig, Bodo Grimbacher, Frank L van de Veerdonk, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann, Capucine Picard, Laszlo Marodi, Tomohiro Morio, Masao Kobayashi, Desa Lilic, Joshua D Milner, Steven Holland, Jean-Laurent Casanova, Anne Puel; International STAT1 Gain-of-Function Study Group. Heterozygous STAT1 gain-of-function mutations underlie an unexpectedly broad clinical phenotype. Blood 2016 127(25):3154- 3164); 

• Anne Puel, Rainer Döffinger, Angels Natividad, Maya Chrabieh, Gabriela Barcenas-Morales, Capucine Picard, Aurélie Cobat, Marie Ouachée-Chardin, Antoine Toulon, Jacinta Bustamante, Saleh Al-Muhsen, Mohammed Al-Owain, Peter D Arkwright, Colm Costigan, Vivienne McConnell, Andrew J Cant, Mario Abinun, Michel Polak, Pierre-François Bougnères, Dinakantha Kumararatne, László Marodi, Amit Nahum, Chaim Roifman, Stéphane Blanche, Alain Fischer, Christine Bodemer, Laurent Abel, Desa Lilic, Jean-Laurent Casanova Autoantibodies against IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-22 in patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis and autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type I. J Exp Med 2010; 207:291-297;

• Kai Kisand, Desa Lilic, Jean-Laurent Casanova, Pärt Peterson, Anthony Meager, Nick Willcox. Mucocutaneous candidiasis and autoimmunity against cytokines in APECED and thymoma patients: clinical and pathogenetic implications. Eur J Immunol 2011, 41:1517-1527.

• Lisa R Forbes, Tiphanie P Vogel, Megan A Cooper, Johana Castro-Wagner, Edith Schussler, Katja G Weinacht, Ashley S Plant, Helen C Su, Eric J Allenspach, Mary Slatter, Mario Abinun, Desa Lilic, Charlotte Cunningham-Rundles, Olive Eckstein, Peter Olbrich, R Paul Guillerman, Niraj C Patel, Yesim Y Demirdag, Christa Zerbe, Alexandra F Freeman, Steven M Holland, Paul Szabolcs, Andrew Gennery, Troy R Torgerson, Joshua D Milner, Jennifer W Leiding. Jakinibs for the treatment of immune dysregulation in patients with gain-of-function signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) or STAT3 mutations. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2018, 142(5):1665-1669;

​

Desa Lilic Google Schoolar

Mario Abinun Google Schoolar