Advances in NADPH Oxidases Research: From Molecules to Diseases

Edgar Pick is Professor Emeritus of Immunology at the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Tel Aviv University. He joined Tel Aviv University after postdoctoral studies at the Scripps Research Foundation, La Jolla, and the University of London and his initial interest was in soluble mediators of cell-mediated immunity (cytokines). Intrigued by the proposal that cytokines promote the bactericidal action of phagocytes by augmenting their production of ROS in response to phagocytosis of microorganisms, he engaged in an in-depth study of the enzyme responsible for the generation of the primordial ROS, the superoxide anion (the NADPH oxidase of phagocytes or Nox2). In the course of a period of four decades, he made fundamental discoveries in this area that comprised: the design of the “cell-free system” of activating the resting Nox2 in vitro, leading to the discovery that the activation of the membrane-localized enzyme depends on the participation of cytosolic components; the identification of the small GTPase Rac1 as essential for the activation of Nox2; providing proof for the presence of all catalytic redox centers in Nox2; elucidation of the mechanism of dissociation of the Rac1-Rho GDP Dissociation Inhibitor (RhoGDI) complex; the design of a trimeric fusion protein consisting of functionally significant domains in the 3 cytosolic regulators, and the identification of a key domain in Nox2 involved in interaction with the activating regulatory protein p67phox. Edgar Pick was an Editor of the book “Biology of the Lymphokines” (Academic Press, 1979), coedited with Stanley Cohen (1st coeditor) and Joost J. Oppenheim (3rd coeditor). He also acted as the Editor of the books series “Lymphokines”, volumes 1-15 (Academic Press, 1980-1988), with Maurice Landy as Advisory Editor. He, recently, edited the book “NADPH Oxidases Revisited: From Function to Structure” (Springer, Cham, 2023).