Fighting Pneumonia — The National Institute on Aging has awarded Dr. Liise-anne Pirofski $2.4 million to study how HIV infection and aging influence the effectiveness of a pneumococcal vaccine. HIV-infected individuals and the elderly are highly susceptible to infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacterial species mainly responsible for community-acquired pneumonia cases and hospital admissions for pneumonia. The Pirofski team will build on earlier work analyzing how HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected middle-aged and elderly adults respond to the vaccine Prevnar13, recommended for fighting pneumonia in infants, children and HIV-infected adults. The researchers also want to identify immunological and genetic biomarkers related to peoples’ response to Prevnar13 that can help efforts to improve the vaccine’s effectiveness and guide future vaccine use in adults. Dr. Pirofski is professor of medicine and of microbiology & immunology, chief of the division of infectious diseases, and holds the Selma and Dr. Jacques Mitrani Chair in Biomedical Research.
Posted on: Tuesday, July 01, 2014