The laboratory is interested in the study of the humoral immune response to infectious disease agents and cancer. In the area of HIV, the laboratory is interested in developing active and passive immunotherapy for the prevention and treatment of HIV. The laboratory also has an interest in antibodies to other infectious disease agents such as P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, and group B streptococcus. Some of these antibodies are being developed for therapeutic or diagnostic use. More recently, the laboratory has focused on the antibody response that is generated in individuals with prostate or breast cancer undergoing active immunotherapy.
Duval M, Posner MR, and Cavacini LA. A bispecific antibody composed of a non-neutralizing antibody to the gp41 immunodominant region and an anti-CD89 antibody directs broad HIV destruction by neutrophils. J Virol 2008; 82:4671-4674
Miranda LR, Duval M, Doherty H, Seaman M, Posner MR and Cavacini LA. The neutralization properties of an HIV-specific antibody are markedly altered by glycosylation events outside the antigen binding domain. J Immunol 2007; 178:7132-7138
Ahmed AR, Spigelman Z, Cavacini LA, and Posner MR. Treatment of Pemphigus Vulgaris with rituximab and intravenous immunoglobulin. New Engl J Med 2006; 355:1772-1779
Pantophlet R, Aguilar-Sino RO, Wrin T, Cavacini LA, and Burton DR. Analysis of neutralization breadth of the anti-V3 antibody F425-B4e8 and re-assessment of its epitope fine specificity by scanning mutagenesis. Virology 2007; 364:441-453
Kelly-Quintos C, Cavacini LA, Posner MR, Goldmann D, and Pier GB. Characterization of the opsonic and protective activity against Staphyloccus aureus of fully human monoclonal antibodies specific for the bacterial surface polysaccharide poly-N-acetylglucosamine. Infect Immun 2006; 74:2742-2750
External Recognition:
ZRG1 AARR-C (02) Study Section (Immunity and Immunopathogenesis in AIDS), NIH; Chair, BIDMC Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; Associate Editor, Journal of Immunology
Major Collaborative Activities:
Collaboration with investigators at the Channing Laboratories (BWH)on antibodies to infectious disease agents including P. aeruginosa, S. aureus (G. Pier), group B streptococcus (H. Guttormsen, D. Kasper) and herpesvirus (F. Wang).
Collaboration with individuals at DFCI on HIV (J. Sodroski, R. Ruprecht) and head and neck cancer (M. Posner)
Collaboration with Viral Pathogenesis at BIDMC
