Journal of Antivirals & Antiretrovirals
Open Access
ISSN: 1948-5964
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 1948-5964
+44 1300 500008
Pawel Ciborowski, G. Pottiez, J. Wiederin, R.M. Donahoe, H. Fox and H.E. Gendelman
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: JAA
HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND) are a spectrum of clinical disorders ranging from asymptomatic neurocognitive defi cits to dementia which develops at some point during the progression of HIV-1 infection in approximately 50% of infected individuals. Currently, only clinical evaluations are available to assess cognitive impairments in HIV-1 infected individuals because measurements of viral load either in CSF or plasma have failed to provide reliable indications for HAND. Th us, laboratory tests for new biomarkers for HAND are urgently needed. Since 2003 our laboratories used multiple proteomic profi ling platforms to assess diff erentially expressed proteins for the goal of fi nding disease biomarkers. We evaluated serum/plasma and cerebrospinal fl uids from humans and plasma samples from Rhesus monkeys infected with SIV smm9. Some of these studies were directed specifi cally to discover biomarkers while other studies aimed at more basic exploration of molecular mechanisms underlying development of HAND. Th e combined results show diff erentially expressed proteins which are primarily made in the liver in response to infl ammation, while others are made in the brain. Observed changes in expression patterns from acute to chronicstage show that various components of the organism�s response to viral infection are diff erentially regulated, which defi ne patterns associated with the course of viral survival in ongoing attempts of the host at immunosurveillance. Although cohorts of samples used for discovery and validation phases in all these studies are too small to draw more general conclusions about utility of diff erentially expressed proteins as diagnostic biomarkers, they provide new insights into host�s response to HIV infection.
Dr. Pawel Ciborowski has completed his Ph.D in 1983 from National Institute of Hygiene in Warsaw, Poland. After post-doctoral training as Alexander v. Humboldt Fellow at the University of Cologne, Germany he spent 2 years as visiting scientist at that University of Lund, Sweden he came to US to work in academia (University of Pittsburgh) and biotech industry. In 2003 he joined University of Nebraska Medical Center where currently he is Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience and Director of Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Core Facility. He published 64 papers and contributed 7 proteomics related chapters.