Professor, Medicine; Microbiology and Immunology; Division Chief, Infectious Diseases, Selmaand Dr. Jacques Mitrani Professor in Biomedical Research
Immunoglobulin Repertoire Defects and Susceptibility to Encapsulated Pathogens
Image: Transmission electron micrograph of Streptococcus pneumoniae. S. penumoniae is a Gram positive bacterium that is a frequent cause of pneumonia and meningitis.
Patients with antibody deficiency and B cell defects, HIV-infected individuals, bone marrow transplant recipients and those with hematologic malignancy, are at significantly increased risk for developing diseases caused by encapsulated pathogens.
Findings in our laboratory based on our work with Cryptococcusneoformans and Streptococcuspneumoniae have led us to hypothesize that a 'hole' in the immunoglobulin repertoire may translate into an inability to mount effective immune responses to encapsulated pathogens, leading to increased susceptibility to diseases caused by such microbes and an inability to respond to polysaccharide-based vaccines. The focus of our work is on the study of the influence of immunoglobulin gene expression on the pathogenesis of encapsulated pathogens in patients and experimental models of infection, and studies of structure-function relationships for antibodies to encapsulated pathogens to determine mechanisms of antibody efficacy. The goal of our work is to establish a knowledge base for designing novel approaches to preventing and treating infectious diseases caused by encapsulated pathogens.