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Member Information
Jean Boyer, PhD
Assistant Research Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Office Phone: 215-662-2352
Office Fax: 215-573-9436
Email: boyerj@mail.med.upenn.edu
Website(s):
Education: PhD 1991, Rutgers University
Keywords: Vaccines, Cellular Immunology
Research and/or Clinical Interests:
The induction of an effective cellular immune response to HIV-1 through vaccination, during parasitic infection.
Summary:
The CD8 lymphocyte response to foreign antigen is important for the control of viral replication. Accordingly, in many cases it is imperative that vaccines induce an antigen specific cellular immune response. In collaboration with Dr. David Weiner my laboratory studies the cellular immune responses associated with HIV-1 infection and HIV-1 vaccines. My research group has demonstrated that a DNA based HIV-1 vaccine could protect chimpanzees from an HIV-1 challenge. In addition, we demonstrated that a DNA based HIV-1 vaccine could induce cellular immune responses in humans. In addition, my laboratory is investigating the impact of co-infection on effective vaccination. Such co-infections direct the immune response toward a polarized Th2 immune response thus impacting on the induction of a vaccine-induced cellular immune response. In this regard we demonstrated in the SIV infected primate model that enhancement of the humoral immune response through administration of IL-4 did not suppress lentiviral replication in the Rhesus macaques, we observed increased replication of the simian immunodeficiency virus. Chronic parasitic infections, common in many developing countries, also often correspond with a highly polarized Th2 cytokine response, and generate problems regarding an individual's ability to develop a vaccine induced CD8+ T cell immune response. One model, Leishmania major causes concern for its impact on vaccination, particularly visceral forms of the disease that are often associated with suppressed Th1 responses. My laboratory has demonstrated that Leishmaniasis major parasitic infection could down modulate a vaccine response and we are continuing to investigate this problem.
Representative Publications:
Robinson, T.M., Nelson, R.G., Boyer, J.D. , Parasitic Infection and the Th2 Polarized Immune Response alters a Vaccine Induced Immune Response, DNA and Cell Biology, 22:421-430, 2003.
Calarota, S.A., Otero, M., Hermanstayne, K., Lewis, M., Rosati, M., Felber, B.K., Pavlakis, G.N., Boyer, J.D., Weiner, D.B., Use of IL-15 to enhance IFN-gamma production by antigen-specific stimulated lymphocytes from rhesus macaques, Journal of Immunological Methods, 279:55-67, 2003.
Robinson, T.M., Artis, D., Scott, P., Boyer, JD ., Th2 Bias Suppresses HIV-1 DNA Vaccine Induced Cellular Immune Response, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2003, (in press).
Boyer J.D., Ugen, K.E., Wang, B., Agadjanyan, M., Gilbert, L., Bagarazzi, M., Chattergoon, M., Frost, P., Javadian, A., Williams, W.V., Ciccarelli, R.B., McCallus, D., Coney, L., and Weiner, D.B, Protection from high dose heterologous HIV-1 challenge in chimpanzees by DNA vaccination, Nature Medicine, 3: 526-532, 1997.
Boyer, J.D., Ugen, K.E., Chattergoon, M., Wang, B., Agadjanyan, M., Bagarazzi, M. L., Shah, A. Javadian, A. Carrano, R., Coney, L., Williams, W. V., and Weiner, D. B, DNA Vaccination as Anti-HIV Immunotherapy in Infected Chimpanzees, J Infect Dis, 176:1501-1509, 1997.
MacGregor, RR, Boyer, J.D., Ugen, K.E., Lacy, K.E., Bagarazzi, M.L., Chattergoon, M, Baine, Y., Higgins, T, Ciccarelli, R, Coney, L, Ginsberg, R, Weiner, D.B., First Human Trial of a DNA-Based Vaccine for the Treatment of HIV-1 Infection: Safety and Host Responses, JID, 178;92-100, 1998.
Chattergoon, M., Robinson, T., Boyer, J.D. and Weiner, D.B., Specific immune induction following DNA-based immunization through in vivo transfection and activation of macrophages, J. of Immunol, 169:5707-5718, 1998.
Boyer JD, Chattergoon, Ugen, Shah, Bennett, Cohen, Nyland, Lacy, Bagarazzi, Higgins, Baine, Ciccarelli, Ginsberg, MacGregor, Weiner, Enhancement of Cellular Immune Response in HIV-1 Seropositive Individuals: A DNA-based trial, Clinical Immunology, 90:100-107, 1999.
