Penn Immunologist and Collaborators Receive $10 Million NIH Renewal to Study Potential of Cancer-Focused Therapy on Infectious Diseases
Using PD-1 Blockade, Targets Include Hepatitis B and Flu Viruses
Article ID: 711618
Released: 19-Apr-2019 10:05 AM EDT
Source Newsroom: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Newswise — PHILADELPHIA—Three of the top-ten causes of death worldwide are infectious diseases, with billions of people harboring such potentially lethal pathogens as the hepatitis B virus, malaria, tuberculosis, the influenza virus, and HIV. Taking a creative approach to address this problem, Penn Medicine and colleagues at Oxford University and Massachusetts General Hospital have received an additional five-year round of funding totaling $10 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore using a promising cancer treatment to combat these dangerous viruses.
E. John Wherry, PhD, the chair of Pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, will lead the Penn team in the collaboration to study the impact of an immunotherapy called PD-1 blockade on viral immunity in humans. This grant renewal is part of the NIH’s Cooperative Centers for Human Immunology consortium.
The programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) is located on an immune cell’s surface and plays a key role in restraining T cell activity. While this control of immune response can prevent autoimmune diseases, it can also block the immune system’s ability to kill cancer cells. PD-1 inhibitors can thwart PD-1, ramping up the immune system’s capacity to attack tumors.
“These medications have also shown early promise against infectious diseases,” said Wherry. “But there is almost no information in humans about how targeting PD-1 affects immunity to viruses and vaccines.”
The new grant aims to address this crucial gap in knowledge to improve prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. The primary goal is to apply PD-1 blockade in hepatitis B virus infection and flu vaccination, identifying innate and adaptive immune effects controlled by PD-1 signals in response to viruses and vaccines in people.
By studying humans, the new grant will seek to address a common challenge in basic biomedicine: Much research now only takes place in mice, making the translation of insights gained from animal studies to humans limited. “Flu and other respiratory infections alone kill up to half a million people globally each year,” said Wherry. “Vaccines remain only partially effective, especially in the most vulnerable populations. Although we have learned a great deal about human immunology in the past several decades, we still have a long way to go.”
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.作者: StephenW 时间: 2019-4-20 14:58
Newswise - PHILADELPHIA-全球十大死因中有三个是传染病，数十亿人拥有乙型肝炎病毒，疟疾，肺结核，流感病毒和艾滋病等可能致命的病原体。 Penn Medicine及其同事在牛津大学和马萨诸塞州综合医院采取了创造性的方法来解决这一问题，并从美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）获得了额外的五年资金，共计1000万美元用于探索使用有希望的癌症治疗方法。打击这些危险的病毒。
宾夕法尼亚大学佩雷尔曼医学院药理学教授E. John Wherry博士将带领宾大团队合作研究PD-1阻断免疫疗法对人类病毒免疫的影响。该补助金续签是NIH人体免疫学合作中心联盟的一部分。
宾大医药是世界领先的学术医疗中心之一，致力于医学教育，生物医学研究和卓越的患者护理相关任务。 Penn Medicine由宾夕法尼亚大学的Raymond和Ruth Perelman医学院（成立于1765年，作为全国第一所医学院）和宾夕法尼亚大学健康系统学院组成，它们共同组成了一个价值78亿美元的企业。