The K08 Award will provide an opportunity for the applicant to extend his virology training in the area of viral-bacterial interactions and to develop new expertise in pneumococcal pathogenesis in the setting of prior viral infection. These skills will enable the applicant to achieve his long term career goals by becoming a fully independent research scientist who can translate observations made at the bench into therapeutics and interventions at the bedside. Epidemiologic evidence suggests that there is a lethal synergism between influenza A virus and Streptococcus pneumonias accounting for excess mortality (average 20,000 influenza-related deaths per year in the US) during influenza epidemics. However, the pathogenic mechanisms underlying this interaction are poorly understood, and the lack of a suitable animal model of pneumonia following infection with both organisms has hampered study. The goal of the proposed research plan is to determine the role of receptor alterations engendered by influenza virus infection in the pathogenesis of pneumococcal pneumonia. A newly developed murine model of dual infection will be used to examine the relationships of timing and of infectious doses of influenza virus and pneumococcus to morbidity and mortality. Influenza viruses with different pathogenic features in the mouse will be utilized to determine how cytokine expression varies with different viruses. Expression of receptors permissive for pneumococcal adherence and invasion will be examined in the context of cytokine expression following influenza virus infection, and a correlation to development of pneumonia and in the murine model of dual infection will be made. Identification of specific pneumococcal proteins involved in this synergistic interaction will provide drug and vaccine targets for future intervention in human disease and death caused by pneumococcal superinfection following influenza.
