Aging with Chronic Viral Infections and the Impact on Innate Immune Responses

慢性病毒感染引起的衰老及其对先天免疫反应的影响

• 批准号: 8841935
• 负责人: Heather Winona Stout Delgado
• 金额: $ 4.88万
• 依托单位: WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-01 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8841935
• 关键词: Aging; Chronic; Viral; Infections; Impact

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): With an aging population and chronic liver disease becoming an increasingly significant cause of morbidity and mortality, there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the dynamics of innate and adaptive immune responses during chronic viral infection and the relationship of these responses to viral clearance. As the innate immune response is the first line of defense against pathogens, it is imperative to elucidate how aging modifies innate immunity and contributes to chronic viral persistence. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) play a pivotal role in detection of foreign pathogens and represent a major source of type 1 IFN post exposure to viral infections or Toll-Like Receptor 9 (TLR9) or TLR7 specific ligands. The goal of this proposal is to examine the effects of chronic viral infection on pDC cell function and how these effects contribute to viral persistence and susceptibility to a secondary infection. My doctoral and post-doctoral research that focused on innate and adaptive immune responses during viral infection led to an impressive publication record. I am skilled in the research techniques outlined in my current research proposal. While my preliminary work focused on acute viral infection, my proposal aims to investigate how chronic viral infections influence innate antiviral immune responses with aging. This novel field of investigation has important clinical relevance for an aging population increasingly burdened with chronic viral infection. Results from the experiments outlined in this proposal will provide insight on the influence of aging on innate immune responses during chronic viral infections. Lastly, I envision the proposed work to serve as a spring board that will launch a career as an independently funded scientist. In continuing to directly plan and execute experiments, my ability to think critically about biomedical investigation will be further refined and will lead to additional hypotheses which can be tested as part of a future grant application (e.g., R01). I resolutely believe that I have the talent and motivation to become a successful investigator in aging and I strongly believe that my work in aging and immunity will help in the understanding and treatment of chronic viral infections. Receipt of a K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award will allow me to achieve my primary career goal of becoming an expert and leader in the field of aging and viral immunity, who, by focusing on the complex relationship between aging and altered immune responses, will make important research contributions that will ultimately translate into improving the functional status of older persons. Under the guidance of my primary mentorship team, I have structured the following career development activities to support my primary career goal. Through my academic training and work experiences to date, I have obtained the essential underpinnings for applying immunologic methods to aging research. Given this strong foundation, I plan to focus on the operational side of my training, spending the largest proportion of my time with hands-on research training, complemented by highly focused didactic training targeting specific areas that are currently deficient. Therefore, the proposed career development plan is designed to give me the required tools to develop into a highly competitive, independent researcher in the field of aging. In addition to the experience that I will gain from executing the research plan and interacting with the mentorship team, I have proposed specific course work through the first two years of the award period that will help me short-term and long-term goals.

描述（由申请人提供）：随着人口老龄化和慢性肝病成为发病率和死亡率日益重要的原因，迫切需要提高我们对慢性病毒感染期间先天性和适应性免疫反应的动态及其关系的理解这些对病毒清除的反应。由于先天免疫反应是抵御病原体的第一道防线，因此有必要阐明衰老如何改变先天免疫并导致慢性病毒持续存在。浆细胞样树突状细胞 (pDC) 在检测外来病原体中发挥着关键作用，是暴露于病毒感染或 Toll 样受体 9 (TLR9​​) 或 TLR7 特异性配体后 1 型 IFN 的主要来源。该提案的目的是检查慢性病毒感染对 pDC 细胞功能的影响，以及这些影响如何影响病毒的持久性和对继发感染的易感性。我的博士和博士后研究重点关注病毒感染期间的先天性和适应性免疫反应，取得了令人印象深刻的发表记录。我精通当前研究计划中概述的研究技术。虽然我的初步工作重点是急性病毒感染，但我的建议旨在研究慢性病毒感染如何影响衰老过程中的先天抗病毒免疫反应。这一新的研究领域对于日益承受慢性病毒感染负担的老龄化人口具有重要的临床意义。该提案中概述的实验结果将提供有关衰老对慢性病毒感染期间先天免疫反应的影响的见解。最后，我设想拟议的工作将作为一个跳板，开启作为一名独立资助的科学家的职业生涯。在继续直接计划和执行实验的过程中，我批判性思考生物医学研究的能力将得到进一步完善，并将产生额外的假设，这些假设可以作为未来拨款申请的一部分进行测试（例如，R01）。我坚信我有天赋和动力成为一名成功的衰老研究人员，我坚信我在衰老和免疫方面的工作将有助于理解和治疗慢性病毒感染。获得 K01 指导研究科学家发展奖将使我能够实现我的主要职业目标，即成为衰老和病毒免疫领域的专家和领导者，通过关注衰老和免疫反应改变之间的复杂关系，我将重要的研究贡献最终将转化为改善老年人的功能状况。在我的主要导师团队的指导下，我组织了以下职业发展活动来支持我的主要职业目标。通过迄今为止的学术培训和工作经验，我已经获得了将免疫学方法应用于衰老研究的必要基础。鉴于这个坚实的基础，我计划将重点放在培训的操作方面，将大部分时间用于实践研究培训，并辅之以针对当前缺乏的特定领域的高度集中的教学培训。因此，拟议的职业发展计划旨在为我提供所需的工具，帮助我发展成为老龄化领域极具竞争力的独立研究员。除了从执行研究计划和与导师团队互动中获得的经验之外，我还提出了奖励期前两年的具体课程工作，这将有助于我实现短期和长期目标。