Presently, the Developmental Therapeutics Branch has several animal model contracts for the evaluation of antiviral agents, anti-opportunistic infection agents, and immune-based therapies. These resources are available to assist the scientific community, including the private sector, in the development of anti-HIV/AIDS therapies. This contract will provide an experimental model in which immune-based therapies can be evaluated for their ability to ameliorate or normalize immune function compromised by viral activity. The goal of the project is to focus on issues that currently do not receive adequate attention and that represent special problems for immune-based therapies, i.e., mechanism of action, optical scheduling, identification of quantifiable parameters related to in vivo efficacy, potential for positive or negative interaction between immune-based and anti-retroviral therapies, and the potential of immune-based therapies to upregulate virus expression. Examples of therapies that could be examined in the model include: cytokines, cytokine antagonists, antibody- or cell-based therapies, agents targeted to relieve virus- induced metabolic disturbances, hormones, non-specific immunomodulators, and combinations of immune-based therapies with other therapies (for example, anti-retroviral therapy).

Project Start
1992-12-02
Project End
1998-12-01
Budget Start
1998-09-25
Budget End
1998-12-01
Support Year
Fiscal Year
1998
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
North Carolina State University Raleigh
Department
Microbiology/Immun/Virology
Type
Schools of Veterinary Medicine
DUNS #
City
Raleigh
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27695
Sellon, R K; Levy, J K; Jordan, H L et al. (1996) Changes in lymphocyte subsets with age in perinatal cats: late gestation through eight weeks. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 53:105-13
Nelson, P; Sellon, R; Novotney, C et al. (1995) Therapeutic effects of diethylcarbamazine and 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine on feline leukemia virus lymphoma formation. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 46:181-94