We are pleased to announce that Joshua Cyktor, PhD, has been awarded funding in the amount of $199,077 for a two-year grant by Merck & Company, Inc., entitled, “NKG2A Blockade to Enhance Immune Control of HIV.” This proposal was submitted in response to the competitive funding opportunity entitled, “Merck Investigator Studies Program.”

In this Investigator-led study, Dr. Cyktor will focus on three projects: Project A aims to enhance Natural Killer (NK) cell function using antibodies designed by Dr. Wei Li in an autologous HIV latency clearance assay using cells from people with HIV. Project B will evaluate the anti-HIV activity of those same antibodies in vivo in a humanized mouse model. Project C will measure T cell responses after treatment with these antibodies in cells obtained from two completed therapeutic vaccine studies: DC-04 at Pitt (PIs: Riddler, Macatangay, and Mellors) and PennVax at UCLA.

Although direct clinical testing in humans will not be performed, Dr. Cyktor hypothesizes that their monoclonal antibody blocking NKG2A will enhance HIV-specific CD8+ T cell and NK responses leading to improved immune control of HIV.

Please join us in congratulating Josh!