Partners AIDS Research Center; Infectious Disease Division
http://www.massgeneral.org/aids/index.asp
Summary of Research
My research interests center on the immunopathogenesis of HIV infection in perinatally infected children. The broad goals of my research efforts are to elucidate the developmental differences between antiviral T cell responses in children and adults, and to identify correlates of protective HIV-specific immunity to guide the rational design of HIV vaccines and immunomodulatory therapies.
Children infected with HIV display tremendous variability in their clinical course and rate of progression to AIDS. In recent years, elements of the host immune response to HIV have been identified which correlate with a low viral load and benign clinical course in infected adults. My laboratory seeks to identify genetic and immunologic factors underlying the high variability in the rate of progression to AIDS among children. A particular focus is the study of HIV-specific immune responses in pediatric long-term survivors and children who are able to maintain low levels of viremia on little or no antiretroviral therapy. In addition, we are collaborating with pediatric clinicians in the Caribbean to characterize the T cell response to acute perinatal infection in infants, in order to identify features of the virus-specific immune response that are associated with survival. Identification of immunologic correlates of viral control may facilitate the development of therapeutic vaccines and other immunotherapies to boost the antiviral immune response as an adjunct to drug therapy.
Contact Information
Phone: 617-726-6126
Fax: 617-726-5411
E-mail: mfeeney@partners.org
