Shams, Homayoun, D.V.M., Ph.D.

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Contact: homayoun.shams@uthct.edu

Research Interest:

• Immunobiology and molecular pathogenesis of infectious diseases. These areas are critical for the design and implementation of vaccine strategies.
• The role of innate and adaptive immunity to pulmonary infections such as tuberculosis and influenza.
• Basic mechanisms of innate immune response that direct adoptive immunity toward a robust systemic and mucosal immunity in inluenza.

Current Projects:

• Evaluation of novel mechanisms to protect against influenza virus.
• Effect of second hand cigarette smoke on immunity against tuberculosis and influenza.
• Identification of immunogenic peptides of M. tuberculosis proteins.

Lay Summary:

The AIDS epidemic, the spread of new microbial pathogens such as avian influenza virus, the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens and the threat of bioterrorism are clear indications that infectious diseases will remain an enormous threat to the public health in the 21st century. A concerted scientific effort is required to deal with this ongoing problem.

Influenza virus causes several thousands deaths worldwide each year, despite the widespread use of vaccines. In the United States, 5-20% of the population develop influenza, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from its complications, and about 36,000 people die annually (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/). Influenza also causes seasonal epidemics and rare pandemics that have killed up to 50 million persons in 1918 pandemic. These pandemics are regarded as inevitable and there is growing concern that avian influenza strains have the potential to cause the next pandemic. A critical public health priority is to develop strategies to reduce the morbidity and mortality from such events. Despite the widespread use of vaccines, influenza causes significant morbidity and mortality throughout the world, and improved methods to protect against influenza are sorely needed, particularly in the face of an impending pandemic.
Tuberculosis causes two million deaths annually world-wide, and the spread of HIV and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has resulted in increasing mortality rates. Development of an effective vaccine against tuberculosis would have a major impact on public health throughout the world. We are working to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens that elicit adaptive immunity, as such antigens are critical for inclusion in a vaccine against tuberculosis.


Selected Papers and Abstracts:

• Hava DL, van der Wel N, Cohen N, Dascher CC, Houben D, León L, Agarwal S, Sugita M, van Zon M, Kent SC, Shams H, Peters PJ, Brenner MB. 2008. Evasion of peptide, but not lipid antigen presentation though pathogen- induced dendritic cell maturation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008 Aug 12;105(32):11281-6.
• Samten B, Townsend J, Weis SE, Bhoumik A, Klucar P, Shams H, Barnes PF. 2008, CREB, ATF and AP-1 transcription factors regulate IFN-γ secretion by human t cells in response to microbial antigen. J Immunol. 2008 Aug 1;181(3):2056-64.
• Klucar P, Barnes PF, Kong Y, Samten B, Tvinnereim A, Spallek R, Nepom GT, Singh M, Shams H. 2008. Characterization of effector functions of human peptide-specific CD4+ T cell clones for an intracellular pathogen. Hum Immunol. 2008 Aug;69(8):475-83.
• Shams H, Klucar P, Weis SE, Lalvani A, Moonan PK, Safi H, Wizel B, Ewer K, Nepom GT, Lewinsohn DM, Andersen P, Barnes PF. Characterization of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis peptide that is recognized by human CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the context of multiple HLA alleles. J Immunol., 2004 Aug 1;173(3):1966-77.
• Shams H, Barnes PF, Weis SE, Klucar P, Wizel B. Human CD8+ T-Cells Recognize Epitopes of The 28 kDa Hemolysin and The 38 kDa Antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J Leukoc Biol. 2003 Dec;74(6):1008-14.
• Shams H , Wizel B, Lakey DL, Samten B, Vankayalapati R, Valdivia R, Kitchens RL, Griffith DE, Barnes PF. The CD14 Receptor Does Not Mediate Entry of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Into Human Mononuclear Phagocytes. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 2003 May 15;36(1-2):63-9.
• Samten B, Wizel B, Shams H, Weis SE, Klucar P, Wu S, Vankayalapati R, Thomas EK, Okada S, Krensky AM, Barnes PF. CD40 ligand enhances the response of CD8+ T-cells to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J Immunol., 2003 Mar 15;170(6):3180-6.
• Shams H , Poblete F, Rüssmann H, Galán J, Donis RO. Induction of specific CD8+ memory T-cells and long lasting protection following immunization with Salmonella typhimurium expressing a lymphocytic choriomeningitis MHC class I-restricted epitope. Vaccine 2001 Nov 12;20(3-4):577-85.
• Shams H, Wizel B, Weis SE, Samten B, Barnes PF. Contribution of CD8(+) T cells to gamma interferon production in human tuberculosis. May 2001, Infection and immunity, 69, No. 5, p. 3497-3501.
• Shams H, Heron I. Mutual interactions between DTaP IPV and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines in animal models. Biologicals, 1999, Sep.; 27, 227-240.
  •Russmann H, Shams H, Poblete F, Fu Y, Galán JE, Donis RO. Delivery of epitopes by the Salmonella type III secretion system for vaccine development. Science 1998 July 24;281(5376):565 568.
• Shams H, Heron I. The effect of conjugation on immunogenicity and potency of protein carriers of polyribosylribitol phosphate (PRP) conjugated vaccines in the mouse model. APMIS 1998 May; 106(5), 526 534.