Thomas A. Waldmann

Until the week he died, he was an active distinguished investigator at the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch of the National Cancer Institute.

He studied the role played by the receptor for interleukin-2 (IL-2) on the growth, differentiation and regulation of normal and neoplastic T-cells.

He showed that daclizumab contributes to reducing renal transplant rejection and is of value in the treatment of T-cell-mediated autoimmune disorders including multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Waldmann demonstrated that the HTLV-1 encoded protein Tax constitutively activates two autocrine (IL-2R/IL-2, IL-15R/IL-15) and one paracrine (IL-9) system.

[14] In the early 80s Waldmann studied immunoglobulin gene rearrangement in and cell surface markers on acute lymphocyte leukemias.