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Project

Enhancement of antiviral T-cell responses for improved control of viral infection
 

Ghana
Project ID
110211
Total Funding
CAD 999,950.00
IDRC Officer
Fabiano Santos
Project Status
Active
Duration
48 months

Programs and partnerships

Lead institution(s)

Project leader:
Marceline Côté
Canada

Project leader:
Theophlius Odoom
Ghana

Summary

Influenza viruses remain a global health concern, with millions of hospitalization cases and thousands of deaths reported annually.Read more

Influenza viruses remain a global health concern, with millions of hospitalization cases and thousands of deaths reported annually. Moreover, as the current efficacy of the influenza virus vaccines is relatively poor, ranging from 20% to 60% protection, and as highly pathogenic strains continue to emerge rapidly, the development of novel therapeutic approaches for controlling influenza virus infections is urgently needed.

However, the diversity and rapid evolution of these viruses represent major challenges in the development of broad-spectrum therapies. The influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) is the primary virus surface glycoprotein, which plays a critical role in viral entry and is the primary target of current vaccination strategies and of the immune response to infection. A recently uncovered immune evasion mechanism mediated by HA involving the interaction with inhibitory receptors on T cells can suppress the immune response to infection. This project proposes to investigate this viral evasion mechanism and develop novel antibodies that prevent it.

This project was selected for funding during the second research competition of the Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program – Phase II (Communicable Diseases). The program is a partnership between IDRC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Israel Science Foundation and the Azrieli Foundation.

About the partnership

Partnership(s)

Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program

Canada’s International Development Research Centre, in partnership with the Azrieli Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), is supporting cutting-edge biomedical and global health research.