Ivona Pandrea MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Pathology
Center for Vaccine Research
Email: pandrea@pitt.edu
Office Phone: 412 624 3242
Research Interest:
Research in Pandrea's lab is aimed to understand why, despite their high prevalence of SIV infection, the African nonhuman primates generally do not progress to AIDS. We are particularly interested to understand how these nonhuman primate species are able to maintain normal levels of immune activation during SIV infection. We believe that, despite high viral replication, the low levels of immune activation and apoptosis allow mucosal CD4 T cell recovery and therefore nonprogression to AIDS in the natural hosts. Our major research directions are therefore aimed to: (i) study of the correlations between the low levels of CCR5 expression on the mucosal CD4+ T cells and the low levels of immune activation and mucosal SIV transmission (particularly through breast-feeding) in the natural hosts; (ii) understanding the role of the interaction between dendritic cells and T regulatory cells in maintaining low levels of immune activation in the nonprogressive hosts; (iii) investigating how microbial translocation impact immune activation and other systemic lesions in progressive and nonprogressive hosts; and (iv) testing new avenues to prevent the intestinal barrier damage or the damage induced by the proinflammatory cytokines released during the HIV infection.
Our final goal is to identify new immunotherapeutic strategies that, in association to antiretroviral drugs, may ultimately transform HIV-1 infection into a nonprogressive infection with an incubation period that exceeds the human lifespan, similar to SIV infection in natural hosts.
Selected Publications
View Dr. Pandrea's publications on PubMed.
Pandrea I, Ribeiro RM, Gautam R, Gaufin T, Pattison M, Barnes M, Monjure C, Stoulig C, Silvestri G, Miller M, Perelson AS, & Apetrei C. Simian Immunodeficiency Virus SIVagm Dynamics in African Green Monkeys. J Virol 2008: 82: 3713-3724.
Pandrea I, Onanga R, Souquiere S, Mouinga-Ondéme A, Bourry O, Makuwa M, Rouquet P, Silvestri G, Simon F, Roques P & Apetrei C. Paucity of CD4+ CCR5 T-cells may prevent breastfeeding transmission of SIV in natural non-human primate hosts. J. Virol 2008; 82: 5501- 5509.
Pandrea I, Sodora DL, Silvestri G, & Apetrei C. Into the wild: Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection in natural hosts. Trends Immunol; 2008; 29: 419-28.
Pandrea I, Gaufin T, Brenchley JM, Gautam R, Monjure C, Gautam A, Coleman C, Lackner AA, Ribeiro RM, Douek DC, &Apetrei C. Cutting edge: Experimentally induced immune activation in natural hosts of simian immunodeficiency virus induces significant increases in viral replication and CD4+ T cell depletion. J Immunol. 2008, 181: 6687-91.
Pandrea I, Silvestri G, and Apetrei C. AIDS in African nonhuman primate hosts of SIVs: A new paradigm of SIV infection. Curr HIV Res 2009, 6: 57-72.
Gaufin T, Gautam R, Kasheta M, Ribeiro R, Ribka E, Barnes M, Pattison M, Tatum C, Monjure C, Montefiori D, Kaur A, Pandrea I, & Apetrei C. Limited impact of humoral immune responses on controlling viremia during rhesus macaque infection with the neutralization-sensitive strain SIVsmmD215. Blood, 2009; 113: 4250-4261.
Gautam R, Gaufin T, Gautam A, Butler I, Barnes M, Mandell D, Pattison M, MacFarland J, Monjure C, Tatum C, Pandrea I, and Apetrei C. SIVrcm, a unique CCR2-tropic virus, selectively depletes effector memory CD4+ T-cells in pigtailed macaques through rapid co-receptor expansion in vivo. J Virol, 2009; 83: 7894-7908.
Sodora DL, Allan JS, Apetrei C, Brenchley JM, Douek DC, Else JG, Estes JD, Hahn BH, Hirsch VM, Kaur A, Kirchhoff F, Muller-Trutwin M, Pandrea I, Schmitz JE, Silvestri G. Towards an AIDS vaccine: Lessons from natural SIV infections of African nonhuman primate hosts. Nat Med 2009; 15: 861-865.
Beaumier CM, Harris LD, Goldstein S, Klatt NR, Whitted S, McGinty J, Apetrei C, Pandrea I, Hirsch VM, Benchley JM. Down regulation of CD4 by memory CD4+ T cells in vivo renders African green monkeys resistant to progressive SIVagm infection. Nat Med 2009, 15; 879-885.
Gaufin T, Pattison M, Gautam R, Stoulig C, Dufour J, MacFarland J, Mandell D, Tatum C, Marx MH, Ribeiro RM, Montefiori D, Apetrei C, & Pandrea I. Effect of B cell depletion on viral replication and clinical outcome of SIV infection in a natural host. J Virol, 2009: 83: 10347-10357.
Klatt NR, Shudo E, Ortiz AM, Engram JC, Paiardini M, Lawson B, Miller MD, Else J, Pandrea I, Estes JD, Apetrei C, Schmitz JE, Ribeiro RM, Perelson AS, Silvestri G. CD8+ lymphocytes control viral replication in SIVmac239-infected rhesus macaques without decreasing the lifespan of productively infected cells. Plos Pathogens, 2010; 6: e1000747.
Pandrea I, & Apetrei C. Where the wild things are: Pathogenesis of SIV infection in African nonhuman primate hosts. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep, 2010: 7: 28-36.
Pandrea I, Amedee A, Bagby G & Nelson S: Alcohol's Role in HIV Transmission and Disease Progression. Alcohol Research & Health 2010; 33:203-218.
Apetrei C, Gaufin T, Gautam R, Vinton C, Hirsch VM, Lewis M, Brenchley JM, & Pandrea I: Pattern of SIVagm infection in patas monkeys suggests that host adaptation to SIV infection may result in resistance to infection and virus extinction. J Infect Dis; 2010; 201:S371-S376.
Harris LD, Tabb B, Sodora DL, Paiardini M, Klatt NR, Douek DC, Silvestri G, Muller-Trutwin M, Pandrea I, Apetrei C, Hirsch VM, Lifson J, Brenchley JM, & Estes JD: Downregulation of robust acute type I IFN responses distinguishes nonpathogenic SIV infection of natural hosts from pathogenic SIV infection of rhesus macaques. J Virol 2010; 84: 7886-7891.
Gaufin T, Ribeiro RM, Gautam R, Dufour J, Mandell D, Apetrei C, Pandrea I. Experimental depletion of CD8+ cells in acutely SIVagm-Infected African Green Monkeys results in increased viral replication. Retrovirology; 2010; 7: 42.
Gnanadurai CW, Pandrea I, Parrish NF, Kraus MH, Learn GH, Salazar MG, Gautam R, Apetrei C, Hahn BH, & Kirchhoff F: Genetic identity and biological phenotype of a transmitted/founder virus representative of non-pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus infection in African green monkeys. J Virol 2010; 84: 12245-12254.
Vinton C, Klatt NR, Harris LD, Briant JA, Sanders-Beer BE, Herbert R, Woodward R, Silvestri G, Pandrea I, Apetrei C, Hirsch VM, & Brenchley JM: Maintenance of CD4-like immunological function by CD4neg T cells in multiple natural hosts for SIV. J Virol 2011; 85: in press.
Paiardini M, Cervasi B, Reyes-Aviles E, Micci L, Ortiz AM, Chahroudi A, Vinton C, Gordon SN, Bosinger SE, Francella N, Hallberg PL, Schlub T, Chan ML, Riddick NE, Collman RG, Apetrei C, Pandrea I, Else J, Munch J, Kirchhoff F, Davenport MP, Brenchley JM, Silvestri G: Reduced CCR5 up-regulation upon activation limits virus replication in central-memory CD4+ T cells of SIV-infected sooty mangabeys. Nature Medicine 2011, in press.
Pandrea I, Gaufin T, Gautam R, Kristoff J, Mandell D, Montefiori DL, Keele BF, Ribeiro RM, Veazey RS & Apetrei C: Functional cure of SIVagm in rhesus macaques results in complete recovery CD4+ T cells and is reverted by CD8+ cell depletion. Plos Pathogens, 2011; in press.
