Virology
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Norman L. Letvin, M.D.

Professor of Medicine

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Research East, Room 113
330 Brookline Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: 617-667-2766
Fax: 617-667-8210
e-mail:nletvin@bidmc.harvard.edu
12 postdoctoral fellows,5 graduate students

  

The laboratory studies T lymphocyte responses to HIV in the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) monkey model for AIDS. The role of virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in containing the spread of HIV and SIV is explored. The interactions of these virus-specific T cells and the AIDS virus are studied at a molecular level and the implications of this immune response on virus variation are examined. Novel approaches for the vaccine elicitation of SIV- and HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses are being developed.

References:

  • Manuel ER, Charini WA, Sen P, Peyerl FW, Kuroda MJ, Schmitz JE, Autissier P, Sheeter DA, Torbett BE, Letvin NL.  Contribution of T-cell receptor repertoire breadth to the dominance of epitope-specific CD8+ T lymphocyte responses. J Virol 2006; 80: 12032-40.
  • Sun Y, Schmitz JE, Buzby AP, Barker BR, Rao SS, Xu L, Yang ZY, Mascola JR, Nabel GJ, Letvin NL.  Virus-specific cellular immune correlates of survival in vaccinated monkeys after simian immunodeficiency virus challenge.  J Virol 2006: 80: 10950-6.
  • Yeh WW, Cale EM, Jaru-Ampornpan P, Lord CI, Peyerl FW, Letvin NL.  Compensatory substitutions restore normal core assembly in simian immunodeficiency virus isolates with Gag epitope cytotoxic T lymphocyte escape mutations.  J Virol 2006; 80: 8168-77.
  • Margolin DH, Suanders EH, Bronfin B, de Rosa N, Axthelm MK, Goloubeva OG, Eapen S, Gelman RS, Letvin NL. Germinal center function in the spleen during simian HIV infection in rhesus monkeys.  J Immunol 2006; 15: 1108-19.
  • Letvin NL, Mascola JR, Sun Y, Gorgone DA, Buzby AP, Xu L, Yang ZY, Chakrabarti B, Rao SS, Schmitz JE, Montefiori DC, Barker BR, Bookstein FL, Nabel GJ.  Preserved CD4+ central memory T cells and survival in vaccinated SIV-challenged monkeys.  Science 2006; 312: 1530-3.
  • Acierno PM, Schmitz JE, Gorgone DA, Sun Y, Santra S, Seaman MS, Newberg MH, Mascola JR, Nabel GJ, Panicali D, Letvin NL.  Preservation of functional virus-specific memory CD8+ T lymphocytes in vaccinated, simian human immunodeficiency virus-infected rhesus monkeys.  J Immunol 2006; 176: 5338-45.
  • Newberg MH, McEvers KJ, Gorgone DA, Lifton MA, Baumeister SH, Veazey RS, Schmitz JE, Letvin NL.  Immunodomination in the evolution of dominant epitope-specific CD8+ T lymphocyte responses in simian immunodeficiency virus-infected rhesus monkeys.  J Immunol 2006: 176: 319-28.