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OKLAHOMA
CITY, October 6, 2005—The National Institutes of Health has awarded the
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation $8.132 million to study the influenza
vaccine. The five-year project will examine why the vaccine does not protect
certain individuals with compromised immune systems.
"Influenza research is one of the most competitive and difficult arenas
in which to secure funding," said J. Donald Capra, M.D., president of OMRF.
"To win a contract of this magnitude against stiff competition from across
the country speaks volumes about the quality of Oklahoma's biomedical
scientists."
Led by Linda Thompson, Ph.D., and Judith James, M.D., Ph.D.,
the project will specifically examine why patients suffering from lupus fail
to make adequate responses to immunization with the influenza vaccine. Lupus
is one of the so-called "autoimmune" diseases, conditions in which the body
mistakenly turns the weapons of its own immune system against itself. Other
autoimmune diseases include type I (juvenile) diabetes, multiple sclerosis
and rheumatoid arthritis.
"In people with compromised immune systems, the influenza
vaccine fails to elicit the proper immune response," said Thompson. "These
people—who include the elderly, the
very young, pregnant women, transplant patients taking anti-rejection drugs,
cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and those who suffer from
autoimmune diseases—make up a significant portion of the population."
Over a five-year period, the scientists will study the blood
of lupus patients (and a matched group of healthy controls) and analyze
their immune responses to annual flu vaccinations. In particular, the
researchers will focus on the functioning of two types of cells: T cells
(white blood cells critical to the immune response) and B cells (which play
a central role in producing the infection-fighting proteins known as
antibodies). |
Linda Thompson, Ph.D. |
"We want to understand why the immune response fails in lupus patients,"
said Thompson. "If we are able to figure out why the vaccine doesn't take
hold in them, it could offer an important window into why immunization also
fails to protect so many others against the flu."
Each year, influenza kills an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 Americans,
mainly the elderly and those whose immune systems are already compromised by
other medical conditions. But with its ability to mutate rapidly and
frequently, a new strain of the virus could potentially claim millions of
lives.
In particular, scientists are concerned about potential
strains like avian flu, where animal and human influenza viruses combine to
create a form of the virus that is both highly lethal and contagious. On
Wednesday, scientists announced that it was a form of avian flu that caused
the 1918 influenza outbreak, which claimed millions of lives in one of
history's deadliest epidemics.
"Wednesday's announcement underscores the potential danger we
face from avian flu," said Capra. "With this influenza contract, OMRF will
join the worldwide effort to protect the population from the flu virus in
all its many forms."
"Once researchers can understand why the flu vaccine fails in
certain patients, the next step will be to figure out how to remedy this
problem," said Thompson. "This information could provide an important
building block to producing more effective vaccines. And as new, more lethal
strains of influenza continue to emerge, creating more effective vaccines
will be key to saving lives."
In addition to Thompson and James, other OMRF scientists
working on the project will be Mark Coggeshall, Ph.D., Patrick Wilson,
Ph.D., and Joel Guthridge, Ph.D. Gillian Air, Ph.D., and William Hildebrand,
Ph.D., both of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, will also
collaborate on the study.
About OMRF:
Chartered in 1946, OMRF
(www.omrf.org)
is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and
curing human disease. Its scientists focus on such critical research areas
as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. OMRF is
home to Oklahoma's only member of the National Academy of Sciences.
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