Human Pathogens and Immunity
|
|
Human Pathogens and Immunity |
We are working to improve our understanding of host-pathogen interactions and to develop new tools to fight infectious diseases. The pathogens of particular interest to us are the etiologic agents of AIDS and tuberculosis.
Macrophage are frequently the first line of immune defense against infection. Phagocytosis of most microbial organisms by macrophage usually leads to rapid destruction of the microbe, but macrophage are hosts for the etiologic agents of tuberculosis and AIDS. We are investigating the changes in gene expression exhibited by the host after infection to obtain clues to the nature of the interactions between pathogens and their host cells.
We have discovered that stress proteins (also known as heat shock proteins) are important targets of the immune response to bacterial pathogens. The observation that stress proteins have profound immune stimulatory properties has led us to study their role in immunity and their potential as vehicles for vaccine delivery. We have also developed a live recombinant mycobacterial vaccine vehicle that is being investigated for its efficacy against a variety of infectious diseases and cancer.