Giraldina Trevejo-Nunez, MD, has been awarded funding in the amount of $156,500 for a two-year grant by the National Institutes of Health/National Heart Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI) entitled “Domain-specific role of IL-17RA in controlling Klebsiella pneumoniae lung infection”. This proposal was submitted in response to the limited competition funding opportunity entitled Small Research Grant Program for NHLBI K01/K08/K23 Recipients (R03) under funding opportunity number RFA-HL-20-029.
Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) represents the third leading cause of health-care associated pneumonia and it challenges the medical community due to its multidrug resistance profile causing significant morbidity and mortality particularly in immunosuppressed patients. IL-17 is an essential mediator of immunity to KP and animal models with IL-17 receptor (IL-17R) deficiency are susceptible to KP pneumonia. The mechanisms by which IL-17 and its receptor IL-17R mediate specific downstream signals in KP pneumonia are not fully elucidated. The preliminary data revealed that the distal domain of IL-17RA, also known as CBAD, is indispensable to control this infection. This proposal will determine the immune and molecular mechanisms by which the IL-17RA CBAD domain constrains KP pneumonia. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of the lung to control KP will give us insight to better control this infection.
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