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Daniel Rotrosen, M.D., Director, DAIT
Dr. Rotrosen announced the following scientific activities:
First Report of the NIH Autoimmune Diseases Coordinating Committee (ADCC): In December 2000, the ADCC released its first report, which summarizes recent basic and clinical research programs supported by NIH and non-Federal organizations, highlighting coordination and collaborative activities in ten thematic areas, recent and on-going activities of the ADCC; and emerging opportunities to improve treatment and develop preventive approaches for these chronic disorders.
NIAID and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Collaborate to Implement National Cooperative Inner City Asthma Study (NCICAS) Asthma Intervention: The NIAID, through an outreach effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and DAIT, plans to disseminate and implement the multifaceted educational intervention that reduced symptoms and hospitalizations in inner-city children with moderate to severe asthma. Official launch is scheduled for March 1, 2001, with the training of the first cohort of asthma counselors.
Hyperaccelerated Award/Mechanisms in Immunomodulation Trials: The NIAID, through DAIT, recently reissued the Request for Applications (RFA) titled Hyperaccelerated Award/Mechanisms in Immunomodulation Trials. The RFA was originally issued in 1998, through the collaborative efforts of the NIAID and the NIH Center for Scientific Review, to meet the scientific needs of clinical and basic researchers collaborating with industry-sponsored clinical trials in immune-mediated diseases.
Cooperative Study Group for Autoimmune Disease Prevention: The NIAID, in collaboration with NIDDK, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIAMS, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, issued a Request for Applications entitled "Cooperative Study Group for Autoimmune Disease Prevention". This program will support an interactive and collaborative network of investigators to: l) advance the understanding of immune homeostasis in autoimmune diseased states as well as non-diseased states, including the pediatric immune response; and 2) develop interventions for the prevention of human autoimmune diseases.
Statistical and Clinical Coordinating Center: Clinical Trials of Stem Cell Transplantation for the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases: The Division issued a contract solicitation to establish a Statistical and Clinical Coordinating Center to provide support for the NIAID Clinical Trials of Stem Cell Transplantation for the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases program, established in FY 2000. This 7-year contract will provide the statistical, clinical coordination, regulatory, technical, and administrative support necessary for the design, conduct, monitoring, and evaluation of clinical trials and mechanistic studies to be carried out by the stem cell transplantation program.
Annual U.S.-Japan Immunology Board Joint Meeting: The eighteenth annual joint meeting of the U.S. and Japanese Immunology Boards of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Sciences Program convened near Sendai, Japan, on November 16-18, 2000. This meeting was held in conjunction with the annual conference of the Japanese Society for Immunology. For the first time, the German-Japan Immunology Group joined the U.S.-Japan Immunology Boards. The meeting was a two-day symposium consisting of scientific presentation by members of the U.S, Japanese, and German groups as well as several additional distinguished speakers.
NIAID Funds Novel Approach to Address Health Disparity in Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases: In FY 2000, NIAID, with National Cancer Institute and NICHD, co-funded a research project involving the use of a new screening device that specifically targets minority populations to determine if the occurrence of primary immunodeficiency diseases in large urban Hispanic and African-American populations is under-diagnosed.
Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence (ACEs): The ACEs program, established in late FY 1999 to support integrated basic, pre-clinical, and clinical research, is now enrolling patients in its first two clinical trials. A Phase I/II trial will test whether anti-CD20 (Rituxi.0mab, Genetech) is safe and efficacious in patients with advanced systemic lupus erythematosus. The second clinical trial will test the efficacy of anti-C5 (Alexion) in treating patients with lupus nephritis.
Non-Human Primate Cooperative Study Group: On November 16-17, 2000, the Principal Investigators and Project Leaders of the Non-Human Primate Cooperative Study Group met to present and discuss experimental data on tolerance induction protocols for kidney and islet transplantation. Data were presented on several promising strategies for tolerance induction, including co-stimulation blockade, donor bone marrow transfusion, and T-cell depletion.
Workshop on the Importance of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in the Attenuation of Immune-Mediated Diseases: This workshop co-sponsored by the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, was held on September 18, 2000 and involved both basic scientists and clinicians who presented their findings on dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids (?-3 FA), such as fish oil, and their therapeutic role in inflammatory and immune responses associated with asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, cardiac transplantation, and colon cancer.
NIAID RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAMS IN ALLERGY, IMMUNOLOGY, AND TRANSPLANTATION
Council members, Ad hoc Council members, guests and staff participated in a highly stimulating discussion on current issues in NIAID Research Training Programs in Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation. Moderator, and discussant Lawrence Prograis, Jr., M.D., Deputy Director, Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation opened the discussion with an Overview of DAIT's Immunology Research Training Programs; Milton Hernandez, Ph.D., Director, Office of Special Population Research and Training, NIAID discussed an Overview of NIAID Research Training Programs. This was followed by a provocative discussion on NIH Minority Research Training Programs: Ernest Marquez, Ph.D., Chief, Minority Biomedical Research support Branch, Division of Minority Opportunities in Research, NIGMS; Clinical Research Training: The University Perspective: Frank Adkinson, Jr., M.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Asthma and Allergy Center; Careers In Immunology: The New Reality: Paul Kincade, Ph.D., Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
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