Andrea

L.

Cox

,

MD

Our laboratory investigates the host immune response to viruses that cause chronic human infections, particularly HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV infects nearly 200 million people worldwide, resulting in chronic infection in about 75% of cases. We examine the role of the immune response in clearance of HCV upon exposure to this virus by studying responses to HCV from the earliest phases of infection through years following infection in a longitudinal, prospective cohort of people at risk of HCV infection. This allows a comparison of the innate, humoral, and cellular immune responses to infection with clearance versus persistence. Our goal in our HCV research is to identify mechanisms of protective immunity against HCV infection and improve prophylactic HCV vaccine design. We are focused on how the immune system can be used to cure HBV infection and how the adaptive immune response regulates innate immune sensing of HIV, HBV, and HCV.

We are also interested in the mechanisms through which chronic viral infections and tumors evade T cell responses through up-regulation of molecules that inhibit T cell function.