Assistant Clinical Investigator
NIH NIDCR
Building 30 B10 Room 1A08
30 Convent Dr MSC 4340
Bethesda, MD 20892-4326
United States
Blake M. Warner, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.P.H., is currently an Assistant Clinical Investigator and Chief of the Salivary Disorders Unit and the Sjögren’s Syndrome Clinic. The integrated specialty clinic and associated laboratory focus on characterizing disorders affecting the salivary glands including autoimmune diseases and iatrogenic salivary damage by oncologic therapies. Specifically, we interrogate the clinical phenotype, genetics, and immunopathology of salivary dysfunction states including SS and immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced (ICI) sicca and to inform the clinical testing novel therapeutics to improve health outcomes.
Presently, the Salivary Disorders Unit is pursuing two focused research projects: i) investigating pathogenic T cell subsets in Sjögren’s Syndrome and immune checkpoint inhibitor sicca (ICIS, Warner et al., 2019, Burbelo et al., 2019), and ii) the identification of novel mechanisms of salivary dysregulation in genetic forms of Sjögren’s Syndrome. The laboratory uses patient-derived tissues to perform integrated tissue investigations using single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and spatially-resolved RNA-seq (srRNA-seq) and robust clinical data to understand transcriptional state of each salivary cell type. The second aim is to identify unique subsets patients which phenocopy SS but with variants in pathways central to salivary function, or in genes that modify the development of autoimmunity. In studying rare disease variants, we open a window into the biology of complex autoimmune diseases.
Dr. Blake M. Warner received his B.S. in Biochemistry at the University of Miami in Oxford, OH, his M.P.H., Ph.D., and D.D.S. at The Ohio State University. Dr. Warner subsequently completed a three-year hospital-based clinical residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and earned his Fellowship in the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and his Board Certification by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology in 2017. Dr. Warner then completed a post-doctoral Clinical Research Fellowship at NIDCR focused on basic and clinical investigations in Sjögren’s Syndrome and radiation-induced xerostomia. In May of 2018, Dr. Warner was appointed acting chief of the Sjögren’s Syndrome Clinic and in August of 2019 was appointed Chief of the Salivary Disorders Unit and the Sjögren’s Syndrome Clinic. He leads an integrated multi-specialty clinic and aligned research laboratory focused on deep characterization of disorders affecting the salivary glands including autoimmune diseases and iatrogenic salivary damage by oncologic therapies. Specifically, we interrogate the clinical phenotype, genetics, and immunopathology of salivary dysfunction states including SS and immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced (ICI) sicca and to inform the clinical testing novel therapeutics to improve health outcomes.
- Roy J, Warner BM, et al. Comparison of PSMA expression levels in human salivary glands to non-human primates and rodents. Ca. Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals. Accepted Dec. 2019.
- Prasov L, Ullah E, Turiff A, Conley J, Warner BM, Hufnagel R, Huryn LA. Expanding the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of Jalili Syndrome: Novel CNNM4 variants and uniparental isodisomy in a North American patient cohort. Am. J Human Genetics. Accepted Nov 2019.
- Jang SI, Tandon M, Teos L, Zheng C, Warner BM, Alevizos I. Dual function of miR-1248 links interferon induction and calcium signaling defects in Sjögren's syndrome. eBioMed. 2019 Oct;48:526-538.
- Burbelo P, Ferré E, Chiorini J, Alevizos I, Lionakis M, Warner BM. Profiling Autoantibodies Against Salivary Proteins in Sicca Conditions. J Dent Res. 2019 Jul;98(7):772-778.
- Warner BM, Baer A, Lipson E, Allen C, Hinrichs C, Rajan A, Pelayo E, Beach M, Gulley J, Madan R, Feliciano J, Grisius M, Long L, Powers A, Kleiner D, Cappelli L, Alevizos I. Sicca syndrome associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Oncologist. 2019 Sep;24(9):1259-1269.
- Palmer RJ, Kokaris AS, Gardner P, Pelayo E, Warner BM, Paster BJ, Alevizos I. Analysis of oral bacterial communities: comparison of HOMI NGS with a tree-based approach implemented in QIIME. J Oral Microbio. 2019 Apr 1;11(1):1586413.
- Michael DG, Pranzitelli T, Warner BM, Yin H, Chiorini J. Integrated epigenetic mapping of human and mouse salivary gene regulation. J Dent Res. 2018 Nov 4:22034518806518. [Epub ahead of print]
- Oghumu S, Casto BC, Ahn-Jarvis J, Weghorst LC, Maloney J, Geuy P, Horvath KZ, Bollinger CE, Warner BM, Summersgill KF, Weghorst CM, Knobloch TJ. Inhibition of Pro-inflammatory and Anti-apoptotic Biomarkers during Experimental Oral Cancer Chemoprevention by Dietary Black Raspberries. Front Immunol. 2017 Oct 23;8:1325.
- Fribley A, Svider P, Warner BM, Naweed RS, Garshott D, Kirkwood K. Recent Trends in Oral Cancer Research Support in the United States. J Dent Res. 2017 Jan;96(1):17-22.
- Knobloch TJ, Uhrig LK, Pearl DK, Casto BC, Warner BM, Clinton SK, Sardo-Molmenti CL, Ferguson JM, Daly BT, Riedl K, Schwartz SJ, Vodovotz Y, Buchta AJ, Schuller DE, Ozer E, Agrawal A, Weghorst CM. Suppression of pro-inflammatory and pro-survival biomarkers in oral cancer patients consuming a black raspberry phytochemical-rich troche. Can Prev Res. 2016 Feb;9(2):159-71.
- Warner BM, Casto BC, Knobloch TJ, Accurso BT, Weghorst CM. Chemoprevention of oral cancer by topical application of black raspberries on high at-risk mucosa. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol. 2014 Dec;118(6):674-683. doi: 10.1016/j.oooo.2014.09.005.
- Warner BM, Griffith CC, Taylor WD, Seethala RR. Sclerosing Rhabdomyosarcoma: Presentation of a Rare Sarcoma Mimicking Myoepithelial Carcinoma of the Parotid Gland and Review of the Literature. Head and Neck Pathology. 2014, ePub ahead of print.
- Accurso B, Warner BM, Allen C, Mallery S, McNamara K, Knobloch TJ, Weghorst CM, Zhang L, Kalmar J. Allelic Imbalance in Oral Lichen Planus and Assessment of its Classification as a Premalignant Condition. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod. 2011 Sep;112(3):359-66.