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News & Events
Bird Flu Report Touts Vaccines A team of researchers reports that widespread vaccination likely will be a key public health strategy for controlling an H5N1 bird flu pandemic. <This article is directley available from the Research Notes section of the May 1, 2008 University Times publication at http://mac10.umc.pitt.edu/u/FMPro?-DB=ustory&-Format=d.html&-lay=a&storyid=8104&-Find.>
Congratulations to Recent IDM Graduates
Other IDM students completing their degree program this June and August include: Monica Tomaszewski-Flick, PhD Candidate in the laboratory of Dr. David Rowe, Sherrianne Gleason, PhD Candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Simon Barratt-Boyes, Jill Montgomery, PhD Candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Frank Jenkins, and Shauna Clark, PhD Candidate in the laboratory of Dr. John Mellors. Please see below for more information on the upcoming master's thesis and doctoral dissertation defenses scheduled in July. Upcoming Departmental PhD Dissertation Defenses July 17 10AM A719 Crabtree Hall July 31 9AM A719 Crabtree Hall IDM Secondary Faculty Dr. Patrick Moore's Recent Research Developments on Viral Link to Skin Cancer Pitt researchers have found a previously unknown virus strongly associated with a rare but deadly skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma.
IDM PhD Student Awarded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Poonam Poonam, fifth year PhD student in Dr. Phalguni Gupta’s laboratory was awarded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Travel Award to attend the Keystone Symposia HIV Vaccines: Progress and Prospects (X7) meeting to be held March 26-April 1, 2008 in Banff, Canada. This highly competitive award covers all travel costs as well as conference registration. Sixty awards to two Keystone meetings focusing on HIV were bestowed to individuals whose research is centered on the focus of the meeting. To be eligible for the Global Health Travel Awards applicants had to “originate from a nation affected by the health problem of the meeting topic.” The CEO and CSO of the Keystone Symposia reviewed the applications for this award. “The purpose of providing travel awards is to add to the diversity of experiences represented by participants at each meeting, Global Health Travel Awards.” In addition to the travel award, Poonam was also invited to submit an abstract for the meetings poster session. At last year’s Deans Day event Poonam was awarded the Rosenkranz Award, designated for the research with the greatest public health significance for her presentation entitled Development of a mucosal vaccine approach against HIV-1 using recombinant Clostridium perfringens and HIV-1 virus like particles. Below is a picture of Poonam with GSPH Dean Donald Burke accepting her award.
Top of Page Pitt’s Center for Vaccine Research (CVR) has received two grants totaling $4.8 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a new vaccine strategy for dengue fever.
News from the Pittsburgh Community Advisory Board of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group By Rodger Beatty, IDM assistant professor The University of Pittsburgh is also a site for the newly formed NIHfunded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN). The leadership group of this new network is located in Pittsburgh at the Magee Women's Research Institute. The University of Pittsburgh research site will be expanded to incorporate both the ACTG and MTN trials. The funding of the site for both networks will provide the opportunity for us to contribute to improvements in care for those who are already HIV infected as well as to advance HIV prevention. CAB members voted to explore the mechanics of including more women so as to represent the community as one CAB for both the ACTG and MTN. In addition to participation in studies sponsored by the ACTG and MTN, the University of Pittsburgh research site also is involved in studies sponsored by other mechanisms including the NIH and industry. The University of Pittsburgh clinical research site will participate in a new study from the MTN: Adherence to Pharmacokinetics Study of Oral and Vaginal Preparations of Tenofovir (MTN 001). This study will enroll 144 sexually active HIV uninfected women between the ages of 18 and 45 at 6 sites including 24 women at Pitt. The primary objectives are to compare adherence to and acceptability of three daily regimens of tenofovir (oral, vaginal, and both) and to compare systemic and local pharmacokinetics between oral versus vaginal formulations of tenofovir in a subset of participants. Adherence will assess the participant self reported product use. For each woman, adherence to each regimen will be computed by dividing the num ber of daily doses she reports having taken by the number of expected doses if she were fully adherent. Acceptability will be determined by the proportion of participants who indicate that they would be "unlikely" to use the study product in the future. Microbicides are being developed as substances intended to reduce or pre vent transmission of HIV and/or other sexually transmitted infections when applied topically to genital mucosal surfaces. A significant body of in vitro, animal, and preliminary clinical data suggests that tenofovir holds promise as a safe and effective vaginal micro bicide. However, potential weakness for single-compound antiretroviral (ARV) treatment microbicides, such as tenofovir, is drug resistance. Expo sure to HIV resistant to the ARV in a microbicide might result in protection levels that are less than those perceived by the user. It remains unclear whether drug resistance (and associated limitations in future treatment options) could occur with a microbi cide containing a single ARV that is not significantly systemically absorbed. It has been posited that drug levels would likely be too low to select for drug resistant virus, but there are currently no data on this. Tenofovir will be studied because of its favorable toxicity and resistance profile, demonstrated efficacy against HIV-1 infection in some animal studies and relatively rapid development path for use as a vaginal microbicide. The comparison of oral versus vaginal ten ofovir is being undertaken because each approach carries specific theoretical and operational advantages. The September monthly CAB meeting was honored with the presence of two special guests: Morenike Ukpong, a pediatric dentist from Nigeria and CoChair of the Microbicide Trials Net work (MTN) Community Working Group (CWG) as well the Executive Committee Community Liaison, and Lydia Soto-Torres, MD, Medical Offi cer from the National Institute on Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Division of AIDS (DAIDS), were welcomed. They were in Pittsburgh for a meeting of the Microbicide Trials Network at Magee Women's Research Institute. The initial microbicide trials were conducted from 1995 to 2000 as part of the HIV Network (HIVNET). From 2000-2006, the microbicide research agenda was expanded and was part of the research conducted by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN). In 2006, the NIH funded a separate network devoted to the study of microbi cides. The MTN is based at Magee Women's Research Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. Sharon L. Hillier, PhD, is the Principal Investigator of this worldwide collaborative of clinical trials network that evaluates the safety and efficacy of microbicides designed to prevent HIV transmission. The mission of the MTN is to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV through the evaluation of products applied topically to mucosal surfaces or administered orally. It is projected that in seven years of funding (2006-2013) the following questions will be answered: The mission of the MTN Community Working Group is to conduct community preparedness and engagement activities to ensure the successful conduct of microbicide studies. The objectives are to ensure community input into science generation at the research process at a network level of the MTN, to develop mechanisms for sharing experiences, lessons learned, and best practices for community involvement in MTN research, and to build capacity for local communities to provide input into research at a site level of the MTN. There are seven sites in sub-Saharan Africa, one in India, and two domestic sites in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. In addition, there are sites in Birmingham, AL, and Bronx-Lebanon, NY, that are part of the former HIV Prevention and Treatment Network. Pitt Opens Center for Vaccine Research Pitt leaders on Sept. 24 celebrated the opening of the Center for Vaccine Research (CVR) in the University’s 330,000-square-foot Biomedical Science Tower 3 (BST3). The CVR houses both the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory and the Vaccine Research Laboratory and will allow Pitt to greatly expand research on naturally occurring diseases like SARS, West Nile virus, dengue fever, and tuberculosis. These diseases are of special interest because the lethal microbes that cause them could be exploited by terrorists. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, initially awarded Pitt $17.5 million in 2003 for construction of the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL), one of only 13 centers of its kind to receive NIAID funding and the second of this elite group to open nationally. Supplemental NIAID funding of $4.1 million and University support of $7.2 million increased the total construction budget to $28.8 million. In funding the lab, NIAID cited the nation’s lack of biosafety laboratories as a significant barrier to progress in biodefense research. Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg said, “Just as Jonas Salk and his Pitt team of researchers provided the polio vaccine to the world, the new Center for Vaccine Research will further our University’s commitment to developing new interventions to prevent infectious diseases—interventions that have the potential to significantly improve “We are gratified by the confidence and support NIAID has shown in us to develop this essential facility,” said Arthur S. Levine, Pitt senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. “The Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, in concert with existing resources at the University of Pittsburgh, will enable us to greatly accelerate the development of vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics for viruses and other infectious agents.” The CVR is directed by Donald S. Burke, dean of Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Jonas Salk Professor of Global Health. The center will employ approximately 150 faculty, staff, and laboratory personnel and will complement other ongoing research at the BST3 in structural biology, computational biology, genomics and proteomics, neurobiology, and drug discovery.
The CVR also houses the Vaccine Research Laboratory (VRL), which occupies 16,000 square feet and includes dedicated biosafety laboratories, specialized instrumentation rooms, offices, and conference rooms. The VRL offers an interactive research environment by providing access to microarray, robotic and mass spectrometry instrumentation. Much of the lab’s work will focus on understanding the variability of viruses and their ability to change over time, and learning how to recognize different viral strains.
-Dr. Amy Hartman Joins IDM Faculty and the Center for Vaccine Research Dr. Amy Hartman Joins IDM Faculty and the Center for Vaccine Research Dr. Hartman received her bachelor's degree in Biology from Washington and Jefferson College in 1998. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from the Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2003. Her graduate thesis was done in the laboratory of Mickey Murphey-Corb, Ph.D. and focused on host factors controlling Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) infection in rhesus macaques. Dr. Hartman was then an ASM/NCID Post-doctoral Fellow in the Special Pathogens Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA under Stuart Nichol, Ph.D. Her work focused on viral virulence factors contributing to severe disease induced by infection with Ebola Zaire virus. She has extensive experience working in BSL-4 laboratories and has participated in outbreak response teams deployed to Africa for outbreaks of Ebola and Marburg viruses. Dr. Hartman returned to the University of Pittsburgh in 2007 as the Research Manager of the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory as well as Research Instructor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology in the Graduate School of Public Health. As part of IDM and the CVR, she is interested in developing animal models for studying the pathogenesis of deadly bacterial and viral pathogens such as Avian Influenza, Monkeypox, and anthrax after aerosol infection. The disease course and illness after aerosol exposure to these and other pathogens is unknown and is of considerable interest for biodefense. Dr. Hartman is glad to be back in Pittsburgh despite the wintery weather. She looks forward to meeting and interacting with the IDM students. Top of Page | Archived News Headlines
Pennsylvania Prevention Project (PPP) Addresses HIV/AIDS within the African American Faith-Based Community Pennsylvania Prevention Project’s HIV/AIDS African American Faith-Based Leadership Initiative organized two events during the summer. The first was in partnership with The Balm in Gilead, Inc.’s “Our Church Lights the Way” national HIV testing campaign. Pittsburgh was one of 10 cities chosen by The Balm in Gilead, Inc. in collaboration with Abbott Laboratories to be featured during this year’s national campaign targeting faith-based communities. Many thanks are extended to Wesley Center AME Zion Church, located in the Hill District on Centre Avenue, for their willingness to host the event during their annual community day observance. Kudos are extended to the pastor and his wife, Rev. Glenn and Marsha Grayson, for electing to take the lead and be tested. Health coordinator from the Wesley Center AME Zion Church, Kristina Williams is a first year MPH student in IDM. During the event a total of 36 individuals were screened.
The second event, “Common Ground: HIV/AIDS 101 Leadership Training” was hosted at McLamb Memorial Church of the Living God in Harrisburg, PA. A total of 12 community outreach volunteers from AIDS Alert, Inc. received training. Common Ground is one of the trainings offered through PA Prevention Project’s HIV/AIDS African American Faith-Based Leadership Initiative in collaboration with the Allegheny Conference of Mid Atlantic I Episcopal Area of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and The Balm in Gilead, Inc. This project targets African American faith based communities. Utilizing social cognitive theory, training participants are provided with the information and skills necessary to facilitate effective HIV/AIDS presentations designed to motivate African Americans to address HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination, seek HIV testing and know their status, encourage women aged 50 and above to dialogue with their primary care physician on HIV/AIDS related issues, and help make a difference by informing others about HIV/AIDS. This culturally specific science based curriculum utilizes a nonjudgmental perspective in it’s delivery of material through lecture, group discussion, skills building activities, and viewing of video clips. Participants are required to conduct a brief practice session at the conclusion of the training. For additional information contact: Debra Dennison at 412-383-3137. The Pennsylvania Prevention Project (PPP) is a research/outreach center housed within IDM, whose mission is to contribute to decreasing HIV infection and morbidity and mortality associated with HIV and AIDS through scientifically based interventions. For more information on the PPP please visit their Web site at www.stophiv.com. Congratulations go out to Debra Dennison, Health Educator for the PPP on her recent appointment to the National Minority AIDS Council’s (NMAC) newly formed board - National Capacity Building Advisory Board for the Division of Technical Assistance and Training. Top of Page | Archived News Headlines
CDC Awards $35 Million to Support HIV Testing and Increase Early Diagnosis of HIV among African Americans Press Release - For Immediate Release - September 27, 2007 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded $35 million in funding to state and local health departments to increase HIV testing opportunities among populations disproportionately affected by HIV, primarily African Americans. Twenty-three states and major metropolitan areas will receive awards ranging from $690,000 to $5.4 million. "This program seeks to test more than 1 million people with the primary goal of increasing early HIV diagnosis among African Americans," said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC$B!l(Bs National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. "HIV testing provides a critical pathway to prevention and treatment services to prolong the lives of those infected and help stop the spread of HIV in the hardest hit communities across the United States." As part of CDC$B!l(Bs efforts to accelerate progress in reducing HIV among African Americans, the program is being targeted to areas of the nation in which African Americans have been most severely impacted. African Americans account for approximately half of the more than 1 million Americans currently estimated to be living with HIV, while comprising 13 percent of the U.S. population. "HIV among African Americans in our nation remains a major public health crisis," Dr. Fenton said. "Equipping every American with life-saving information about whether or not they are infected can play a major role in comprehensive efforts to reduce the toll of this devastating disease." CDC estimates that a quarter of those living with HIV - more than 250,000 Americans - do not realize they are infected. The testing effort is intended to identify undiagnosed individuals, especially among those populations bearing a disproportionate burden of HIV disease. "We estimate this program alone could identify nearly 20,000 people who are unaware that they are infected, allowing them to seek care for their own health and take steps to protect their partners," Dr. Fenton said. Through this program HIV tests will be available primarily in clinical settings, such as emergency departments, community health centers, STD clinics, and correctional health facilities. While about 10 percent of the tests will be administered in non-clinical settings, the main focus of the program will be to implement routine, voluntary HIV testing in health care settings, where opportunities to screen patients for HIV are often missed. The awards will help put into practice CDC$B!l(Bs 2006 Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women in Health-Care Settings. Funds will be used to support HIV testing and related activities including linkage to care, partner counseling and referral services, and the purchase of HIV tests. A particular focus for the program will be integrating HIV testing activities with screening and prevention activities for other infections, such as viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis. Because populations disproportionately affected by HIV are also disproportionately affected by these infections, integrating these services can significantly improve health. Eligibility and funding amounts were based upon the percentage of AIDS cases among African Americans in each jurisdiction. The states receiving funding are: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, The $35 million is part of a new $45 million program to expand access to HIV testing. The remaining $10 million will support a range of CDC programs to provide needed training to health care providers, mobilize communities to encourage HIV testing among African Americans, and reach both providers and those at risk with information on the importance of testing. For more information on HIV prevention, visit www.cdc.gov/hiv. For more information on AIDS, visit Content Source: Office of Enterprise Communication Page last modified: Top of Page | Archived News Headlines
Science & Technology/Pitt-let Research Calls for Testing Hospital Water Supplies for Legionnaries' Disease Bacteria A new study spearheaded by Pitt’s School of Medicine has determined that environmental monitoring of institutional water systems can help to predict the risk of hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia, better known as Legionnaires’ disease. Reported recently in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the 20-hospital study also calls for reconsideration of the current national infection-control policy to include routine testing of hospital water systems for Legionella, the bacterial group associated with Legionnaires’. “Only those hospitals that had high levels of Legionella bacteria in their water systems had patients who contracted Legionnaires’ disease,” senior author and Pitt Professor of Medicine Victor L. Yu said of the study, which involved hospitals in 14 states. “Proactive monitoring of the hospital water supply alerted physicians to the hidden risk of Legionnaires’ disease for their patients.” Legionella bacteria first were identified as causing pneumonia in 1976 following an outbreak among attendees of an American Legion convention at a Philadelphia hotel, resulting in the name Legionnaires’ disease. There are an estimated 20,000 cases of Legionnaires’ in the United States annually, many of them hospital-acquired, with an average fatality rate of 28 percent. Currently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that hospitals and other health care institutions monitor patients for pneumonia incidence before doing environmental surveillance of water systems that can harbor the bacteria. “Based in part on our work, and in collaboration with the Allegheny County Health Department and the Three Rivers Association for Professionals in Infection Control, the development of proactive guidelines for hospital-acquired Legionnaires’ disease prevention has led to the virtual disappearance of this infection in Pittsburgh,” said study first author Janet Stout, a research assistant professor in the Pitt School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “We first reported the connection between hospital water supply and these infections in 1982.” For this investigation, Yu, Stout, and colleagues evaluated samples of hospital-system water at 20 facilities across the country from 2000 to 2002. Water samples were retrieved from at least 10 separate sites at each hospital on multiple occasions over the two-year period. When cases of Legionnaires’ were identified, patient urine and sputum samples from 12 of the hospitals were tested to determine classification of Legionella, which has at least 48 strains. The researchers found that 14 (70 percent) of hospital water systems tested positive for Legionella species, and that six (43 percent) positive-testing hospitals had high-level colonization. Legionnaires’ cases were found among the 633 patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia whose urine or sputum samples were tested for Legionella bacteria. All were traced to hospitals with high-level colonization. “Our study provides much-needed evidence to support a national policy change to include routine environmental surveillance of health care facility water systems along with stringent clinical monitoring of patients,” said Stout, who estimates that 39,000 people have died of Legionnaires’ since 1982. “We think this long-overdue approach should be adopted by infection-control and infectious-disease practitioners nationwide.” This study was based on the Pittsburgh methodology of routine testing of hospital water systems that also has been adopted by New York, Maryland, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy. Other authors and members of the Legionella Study Group included researchers at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System; William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Mich.; the VA Medical Center, Omaha, Neb.; Southern Arizona Healthcare System, Tucson, Ariz.; the VA Medical Center, Wilmington, Del.; the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio; the VA Medical Center, Dayton, Ohio; Stratton VA Medical Center, Albany, N.Y.; the VA Medical Center, Butler, Pa.; VA Medical Center, Iowa City, Iowa; the VA Medical Center, Gainesville, Fla.; the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, Calif.; and the VA Medical Center, Long Beach, Calif. The study was funded by a Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review grant. Top of Page | Archived News Headlines IDM Announces 2007 Public Health Scholarship Recipients Instituted in 2004 to recognize academic excellence among incoming Master of Public Health and Master of Science students, the IDM Public Health Scholarship has again been awarded to two new master level students. The scholarship is based on undergraduate grades, Graduate Record Examination scores, personal statement, and letters of recommendation. This year’s recipients are Sheri Hathaway and Charis Tjoeng.
Support for this scholarship is provided by the Bob Yee Fund in the department. Donations to this fund can be made by personal check to the University of Pittsburgh, subscript “The Bob Yee Fund”, and sent to: University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, Ms. Robin Tierno, Senior Administrator, A419B Crabtree Hall, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. Contact Ms. Robin Tierno with questions at: 412-624-3105 or e-mail rtierno@pitt.edu. Top of Page | Archived News Headlines Awards to IDM MPH Students and Recent Graduates Nationality Rooms Scholarship Katie Philp, MPH communicable diseases and behavioral health science track student, was one of 37 undergraduate and graduate level students selected for a Nationality Rooms Scholarship. The scholarships assist students to study-abroad during the summer semester. She received the Stanley Prostrednik Grant to work with the Kakamega Environmental Education Program to develop infectious disease health education programs for primary grade students in Kakamega, Kenya. Further information on the Nationality Rooms Scholarships program and other students selected is available online in the April 29 edition of the Pitt Chronicle. Delta Omega Honor Society Ashley Petten, 2007 graduate of the MPH communicable diseases and behavioral health science track was nominated and inducted into the Delta Omega honor society. Ashley was bestowed this honor during the 2007 GSPH graduation convocation held on April 28. Along with the induction into Delta Omega Ashley was also honored as the 2007 Outstanding Master’s Student in IDM. Ashley is planning on attending medical school in the fall. Delta Omega Thesis Award Martinique Free, August 2006 graduate of the MPH communicable diseases and behavioral health science track received the Delta Omega Outstanding Thesis Award for her master’s thesis entitled “Utilizing Student Organizations on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Rural South to Facilitate HIV/AIDS Education.” This award was presented to Martinique at the annual GSPH Alumni Dinner held following the 2007 GSPH graduation convocation held on April 28. Martinique is currently employed by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control as a Human Services Specialist completing HIV Surveillance for a Region of the state. She also works on the Medical Monitoring Project, which is a CDC funded grant. Top of Page | Archived News Headlines IDM Students Awarded Prizes in GSPH Annual Dean's Day Congratulations to Adam Soloff and Poonam each awarded a prize in this year’s Dean's Day competition. Adam, a PhD student in Dr. Barratt-Boyes’ lab, was awarded first prize in the doctoral category for his research poster titled Immunotherapeutic Adenoviral-Based Vaccination Enhances Cellular Immunity during Antiretroviral Treated Immunodeficiency Virus Infection. The Rosenkranz Award, designated for the research with the greatest public health significance was awarded to Poonam, a PhD student in Dr. Gupta’s lab. Her presentation was titled Development of a mucosal vaccine approach against HIV-1 using recombinant Clostridium perfringens and HIV-1 virus like particles. Congratulations to all of the IDM students who participated in the event. A total of eight IDM students were selected this year to participate in Dean’s Day. IDM Student Research Presentations Gordon Awandare, PhD student Lance Presser, MS student Allison Remo, MS student Narasimhan Jayanth Venkatachari, PhD student Over the past eight years that Dean's Day has been held at GSPH, IDM master and doctoral students have earned 15 awards. These awards ranged from 1st to 3rd place in the doctoral and master categories, as well as students who won the Delta Omega Poster Award and Rosenkranz Award for Greatest Public Health Significance.
Top of Page | Archived News Headlines Five Decades of Discovery and Beyond The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) will hold a special scientific symposium on Thursday, Oct. 26, to honor the work of Monto Ho, M.D., a world-renowned infectious disease specialist and former chair of GSPH’s department of infectious diseases and microbiology.
Founded in 1948 and fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health, GSPH is world-renowned for contributions that have influenced public health practices and medical care for millions of people. One of the top-ranked schools of public health in the
HIV Infection Requires an Accomplice: B Cells will Special Protein Direct HIV to T Cells, Research Finds
TORONTO, Aug. 12 – HIV infection of T cells requires activation of a molecule on the surface of B cells, a finding that reveals yet another pathway the virus uses in its insidious attack on the immune system, University of Pittsburgh researchers will report at the XVI International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2006).“The research supports a new role for B cells in the development and spread of HIV between cells, with important implications for future studies and drug development efforts that focus on reservoirs of HIV in cells other than T cells,” said Charles R. Rinaldo, Jr., Ph.D., professor and chairman of the department of infectious diseases and microbiology at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) and the study’s senior author.Nearly all approved HIV drug regimens and most of those being tested in clinical trials focus on T cells of the immune system, where HIV replicates and thrives. HIV hijacks T cells by binding to a cell membrane molecule called CD4 and to either or both of two other receptors, from which the two strains of HIV, X4 and C5, take their names. Once anchored on the membrane, it’s able to slither inside and take command of the cell. But as the Pitt studies have found, there is an important first step in a new pathway involving B cells that express a protein called DC-SIGN. B cells are key players in an immune response.While these cells themselves do not become infected, they play a pivotal role as an accomplice in HIV’s takeover of T cells.According to the research to be reported by Giovanna Rappocciolo, Ph.D., research assistant professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at GSPH, laboratory studies provide evidence of DC-SIGN in subsets of B cells from both healthy subjects and HIV infected individuals and indicate DC-SIGN is both a point of entry for HIV and necessary for T cell infection.B cells were isolated from blood samples obtained in 33 healthy subjects and 20 adult patients with HIV from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). Researchers found about 8 percent of these cells expressed DC-SIGN.In one set of studies involving cells from the healthy subjects, the team activated DC-SIGN using two molecules that T cells typically engage in their communication with B cells. Once activated, the DC-SIGN B cells were placed in a culture with T cells and a small amount of virus. Within 24 hours, HIV had begun invading the T cells, yet the B cells were spared. Although they did not become infected, B cells nonetheless harbored virus that was transmissible to T cells for up to two days. HIV had little effect on the T cells when B cells were not present in the culture. Pretreating the B cells with a molecule that blocks DC-SIGN before culturing them with both T cells and HIV was a deterrent against T cell infection as well, further proof that to invade T cells, HIV requires DC-SIGN to be expressed on B cells.In addition to Drs. Rinaldo and Rappacciolo, other authors include Paulo Piazza, Ph.D., Craig L. Fuller, Ph.D., Todd A. Reinhart, D.Sc., Simon C. Watkins, Ph.D., David T. Rowe, Ph.D., Mariel Jais, Aki Hoji, B.S., and Phalguni Gupta, Ph.D.The research was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Cancer Institute, both of the National Institutes of Health. NOTE TO EDITORS: Drs. Rappocciolo will present B Lymphocytes express DC-SIGN and transmit HIV-1 to T lymphocytes (Abstract # TUPDA03 ) in the poster discussion, “Innate Immunity and Dendritic Cells,” Poster Discussion Site A, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 12:45-1:45 p.m., EDT. To arrange interviews with the authors, please call Lisa Rossi at 412-916-3315 (cell).
IDM Announces Public Health Scholarship Recipients
Support for this scholarship is provided by the Bob Yee Fund in the department. Donations to this fund can be made by personal check to the University of Pittsburgh, subscript “The Bob Yee Fund”, and sent to: University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, Ms. Robin Tierno, Senior Administrator, A419B Crabtree Hall, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. Contact Ms. Robin Tierno with questions at: 412-624-3105 or e-mail rtierno@pitt.edu. Top of Page | Archived News Headlines
Dr. Monto Ho, IDM Professor Emeritus, Donation to Establish Endowed Chair in IDM
Dr. Ho’s many accomplishments include pioneering investigations into interferons, which are proteins produced by cells in the body in response to an attack by a virus. In addition, Dr. Ho’s laboratory revealed the source of viral infections that were occurring after organ transplantation, especially cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus infections, which were major complications of early organ transplants. Dr. Ho’s research and leadership of GSPH’s Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology are credited with building the department’s international reputation. Indeed, research conducted within the department has led to many ground-breaking accomplishments including clinical trials on passive immunizations against poliovirus, which directly aided the development of the Salk polio vaccine; the discovery of encephalitis viruses and adeno-associated viruses; research into the mechanisms of microbial infections at the cellular and molecular level; and studies of the molecular, immunologic, epidemiologic, and biologic aspects of disease control and prevention. The department also established the Pitt Men’s Study, one of the largest and longest-running cohort studies of HIV infection, which includes findings of the predictive value of viral load in the development of AIDS. “Dr. Monto Ho is an esteemed leader in public health research whose scholarship and wisdom is an inspiration and a role model for all of us. We are deeply grateful that Monto and Carol Ho have chosen to perpetuate this legacy at our school,” said Bernard D. Goldstein, M.D., former dean of GSPH.In 1997, Dr. Ho left GSPH to become the director in the Division of Clinical Research and a distinguished fellow at the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan. Because the country’s overuse of antibiotics had led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, he recognized the need to enhance the quality of training of infectious disease physicians. His efforts caused the appropriate use of antibiotics to become a national health priority. Since 2002, Taiwan’s antibiotic use has fallen 50 percent and evidence is beginning to show that the drugs are working as well as they should. During his more than half-century career, Dr. Ho authored almost 300 publications, including articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, Science, and the Journal of Infectious Diseases. His most recent book, Several Worlds: Reminiscences and Reflections, is a memoir that follows his life from childhood as the son of a Chinese diplomat through his research career, including his seminal work in Pittsburgh on interferon and his work in Taiwan on the control of antibiotic resistance. In addition to stories from childhood, Dr. Ho details his experiences traveling the world and meeting the people who influenced his life’s work, including internationally recognized transplant pioneer Thomas E. Starzl, M.D., and those he encountered through his work in Taiwan.On June 14, at 12:30 p.m., an event to promote Several Worlds will be held at the University of Pittsburgh’s Book Center. Dr. Ho will be discussing topics in and related to his book, including Chinese culture, his childhood in Austria during WWII, his recent work in Taiwan, and his research. Later this year, in September, a symposium will held in Dr. and Mrs. Ho's honor. The event will be coordinated through the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology and will feature internationally-renowned experts in the field of emerging infectious diseases. Further details are forthcoming. Press release courtesy of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center available on UPMC News Bureau Web site. The University of Pittsburgh University Times article about Dr. Ho's donation is available on the University Times Web site. IDM Research Assistant Professor, Giovanna Rappocciolo Received Poster Award during University of Pittsburgh's Science 2006 Event
Dr. Rappocciolo's poster entitled "B Lymphocytes express DC-SIGN and transmit HIV-1 to T lymphocytes" was awarded one of four awards during the University of Pittsburgh's Science 2006 event. The poster awards took place during the closing events on Friday October 6. There were 200 posters submitted and 176 posters accepted into the two day competition. Additional authors on Dr. Rappocciolo's poster were: Piazza P., Fuller C, Reinhart T., Watkins S., Rowe D, Jais M., Gupta P, and Rinaldo C. Top of Page | Archived News Headlines
Researchers Activate T Cells to Fight HIV, Will Use Method in Dendritic Cell Therapeutic Vaccine TORONTO, Aug. 12 – Having their immune system cells go through a laboratory version of boot camp may help patients win their battle against HIV, believe University of Pittsburgh researchers. In essence, that’s the concept behind the development of a novel therapeutic vaccine loaded with a patient’s own souped up dendritic cells, which have been galvanized to rally other cells of the immune system in fighting the virus unique to that individual. At the XVI International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2006), University of Pittsburgh researchers will describe one of the steps that is key to the approach’s success – modifying the dendritic cells in such a way that they will get the attention of killer T cells. Results of these studies will be incorporated into the protocol for a clinical trial of the vaccine, which is expected to begin later this year.“The goal of the approach is to teach killer T cells to more efficiently find, detect and destroy HIV infected cells. Our vaccine, as an immunotherapy, is custom-designed to target the unique virus that has evolved in each individual being treated. A patient’s own dendritic cells together with their unique viral antigens comprise the main elements of the vaccine,” said Charles R. Rinaldo, Jr., Ph.D., professor and chairman of the department of infectious diseases and microbiology at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) and the study’s senior author.In particular, the approach aims to activate a type of T cell called a CD8, or cytotoxic, T cell, also known as a killer T cell. In a typical immune response, CD8 cells are called to action by dendritic cells. Persons infected with HIV and being treated with antiretroviral drugs can control but not eliminate HIV infection. If the drug therapy is discontinued, the virus comes roaring back. Dr. Rinaldo and others have hypothesized that this is because the drug therapy does not completely restore CD8 cell immunity to the virus. So, in trying to figure a way to activate the CD8 cells to more efficiently control HIV, the researchers focused on a molecule called interleuken-12 (IL-12). When dendritic cells recognize and capture viral antigens, they work together with CD4 T cells to release IL-12, which in turn triggers stimulation of killer CD8 cells that are specific to the virus.Reporting at AIDS 2006, Xiao-Li Huang, M.D., research assistant professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at GSPH, said that IL-12 could be increased when CD40 ligand, a substance that binds to certain immune cells, and interferon gamma were added to dendritic cells.In the study, white blood cells called monocytes were obtained from both HIV patients and individuals not infected with the virus. In the laboratory, the researchers coaxed them to differentiate into mature dendritic cells, and they were grown in culture with the addition of various substances to boost their potency. Separately, the researchers combined a small amount of the patient’s HIV with their CD4 cells, in order to “super infect” them. In these now super-infected cells, the researchers inactivated the virus by promoting a process called apoptosis, or programmed cell death. In their dying state and with trace amounts of viral antigen still present, these CD4 cells were placed in culture with the beefed up dendritic cells. Recognizing the cells as foreign, the dendritic cells processed the antigen. Importantly, the dendritic cells presenting the HIV fragments were able to stimulate CD8 cells when the two cell types were combined.“This model of T cell activation by dendritic cells provides a basis for immunotherapy trials of persons with HIV infection,” said Dr. Huang.The trial should be enrolling patients within the year, pending approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The researchers have already completed a similar trial in 18 patients that proved the approach is safe. In that trial, the vaccine was derived using a readily available HIV protein. Even with this somewhat generic approach, T cell immunity was enhanced.“Quite likely, it will be a combination of anti-viral drugs and some sort of immunotherapy, such as a therapeutic vaccine, that will be the most effective weapon against HIV,” noted Dr. Rinaldo.In addition to Drs. Rinaldo and Huang, other authors of the study include Zheng Fan, M.D., GSPH, and Pawel Kalinski, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, department of surgery. The research was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. NOTE TO EDITORS: Dr. Rinaldo will present Immunomodulation of dendritic cells from HIV-1 infected persons for enhanced stimulation of anti-HIV-1 T cell immunity (Abstract # TUPDA08) in the poster discussion, “Innate Immunity and Dendritic Cells,” Poster Discussion Site A, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 12:45-1:45 p.m., EDT. To arrange interviews with the authors, please call Lisa Rossi at 412-916-3315 (cell). Top of Page | Archived News Headlines B Cells Play Crucial Role in HIV Infection HIV infection of T cells requires activation of a molecule on the surface of B cells, a finding that reveals yet another pathway the virus uses in its attack on the immune system, report Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) and School of Medicine researchers in PLoS Pathogens, a journal published by the Public Library of Science. The findings suggest a need for developing a class of antiviral drugs targeted against this molecule and offer an avenue that may prove critical for the prevention of HIV.
Top of Page | Archived News Headlines Search & Destroy: Pitt Experts Battle Avian Flu & Other Nightmares With all the talk of potential avian flu pandemics or bioterrorism in the news, it’s hard to know who or what to believe. |
