Research Summaries

Donald Alcendor
Assistant Professor

Before HAART in 1996, at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the incidence of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) increased 20,000 fold among homosexual males in the United States and KS is now the predominant HIV/AIDS related malignancy in Southern Africa. Antiretroviral therapy has reduced the incidence of KS in western countries however 99% of the estimated 40 to 60 million people infected with HIV have no access to these drugs and KS remains to be a problem worldwide. My research interest involves understanding mechanisms involved in KSHV disregulation of endothelial cell adhesion molecules which has implications for immune pathogenesis and tumorigenesis. 

Primary cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in women during pregnancy can lead to life threatening  neonatal disease and CMV infection in immunocompromised groups such transplant patients and individuals infected with HIV that are predisposed to severe morbidity and mortality associated with CMV.  I have additional interest in cytomegalovirus dissemination in the brain of both congenital infected neonates as well CMV/HIV coinfections in the brain of AIDS patients. We are developing an infection model for both CMV and HIV in primary human brain microvascular endothelial cells to better understand CNS disease observed in these patients.

I am also studying the effects of bacterial vaginosis on the transmission of HIV in women. Bacterial vaginosis, or BV, is a condition caused by several types of bacteria overtaking the normal and healthy bacteria in the vagina. The resulting changes in pH level seem to increase a woman’s risk of contracting HIV, while some of the bacteria appear to interact with the virus itself to increase replication. We are looking at the specifics of these interactions and to determine if there is a genetic link, since black women have a much higher incidence rate of both BV and HIV.