Abstract

During the previous funding period, we have continued to recruit at the NIH clinical center, a cohort of disseminated cryptococcosis in otherwise symptomatically healthy individuals. We have thus far recruited 12 patients and have begun immunological and genetic characterizations. In a second cohort of candidemia patients we have identified a key genetic locus associated with poor outcome and have obtained a mouse knockout strain and are conducting backcrossing experiments to more rigorously test and validate the genetic associations found in the clinical outcomes trial. In addition, we have received 90 C. neoformans strains from our collaborator, T. Harrison and have begun processing them to perform RNAseq analysis to identify novel cryptococal genes involved in poor outcome of cryptococcosis in African patients. We have also initiated a collaborative epidemiology study of cryptococcosis in the US with B. Prevots of LCID.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Investigator-Initiated Intramural Research Projects (ZIA)
Project #
1ZIAAI001124-02
Application #
8336333
Study Section
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$339,376
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
State
Country
Zip Code

  Publications

Elsegeiny, Waleed; Marr, Kieren A; Williamson, Peter R (2018) Immunology of Cryptococcal Infections: Developing a Rational Approach to Patient Therapy. Front Immunol 9:651
Mehta, Gautam U; Panackal, Anil A; Murayi, Roger et al. (2018) Corticosteroids for shunted previously healthy patients with non-HIV cryptococcal meningoencephalitis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 89:219-220
Opintan, Japheth A; Awadzi, Benedict K; Biney, Isaac J K et al. (2017) High rates of cerebral toxoplasmosis in HIV patients presenting with meningitis in Accra, Ghana. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 111:464-471
Neal, Lori M; Xing, Enze; Xu, Jintao et al. (2017) CD4+ T Cells Orchestrate Lethal Immune Pathology despite Fungal Clearance during Cryptococcus neoformans Meningoencephalitis. MBio 8:
Hammoud, Dima A; Mahdi, Eman; Panackal, Anil A et al. (2017) Choroid Plexitis and Ependymitis by Magnetic Resonance Imaging are Biomarkers of Neuronal Damage and Inflammation in HIV-negative Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis. Sci Rep 7:9184
Williamson, Peter R; Jarvis, Joseph N; Panackal, Anil A et al. (2017) Cryptococcal meningitis: epidemiology, immunology, diagnosis and therapy. Nat Rev Neurol 13:13-24
Kwon-Chung, Kyung J; Bennett, John E; Wickes, Brian L et al. (2017) The Case for Adopting the ""Species Complex"" Nomenclature for the Etiologic Agents of Cryptococcosis. mSphere 2:
Panackal, Anil A; Komori, Mika; Kosa, Peter et al. (2017) Spinal Arachnoiditis as a Complication of Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis in Non-HIV Previously Healthy Adults. Clin Infect Dis 64:275-283
Panackal, Anil A; Rosen, Lindsey B; Uzel, Gulbu et al. (2017) Susceptibility to Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis Associated With Idiopathic CD4+ Lymphopenia and Secondary Germline or Acquired Defects. Open Forum Infect Dis 4:ofx082
Williamson, Peter R (2017) The relentless march of cryptococcal meningitis. Lancet Infect Dis 17:790-791

Showing the most recent 10 out of 37 publications