Description of Research: Powel Kazanjian

MEDICAL RESEARCH: AIDS ASSOCIATED OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS (OI)

Our group is interested in how OIs have been influenced by antimicrobial prophylaxis and HIV therapy.

Host Defense Defects: Phagocytes
Our work has shown that microbicidal activity in AIDS patients is reduced, possibly due to impaired leukotriene synthesis, and that addition of cytokines augments intracellular killing, possibly by upregulating 5-lipoxegenase metabolism.

Sulfa Prophylaxis and Pneumocystis carinii drug resistant mutations
We have shown that sulfa prophylaxis use in AIDS patients with PCP is associated with mutations in the sulfa binding site of the P carinii DHPS gene, but not yet influenced response to sulfa therapy.

HAART Responses and OI Incidence Rates
We have shown that an incomplete virologic reduction is a significant risk factor for OI, and in patients with multi-resistant HIV, maintaining virologically failing regimens reduces OI rates and maintains CD4 responses.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH: EPIDEMIC DISEASES THROUGHOUT HISTORY

We are exploring the initial reluctance to accept the scientific finding that bubonic plague was the cause of a 1901 outbreak in San Francisco and the eagerness to accept sterilization procedures to halt the spread of commercial botulism in 1922 to gain a greater understanding of how new ideas become incorporated into the medical profession. This work is used to provide the historic roots to current AIDS, public health, and research trends.

History Course for Undergraduates (History 300; Fall Semester University of Michigan)

Students study the history of epidemics from antiquity to the twenty-first century, including Athenian plague, medieval leprosy, and HIV/AIDS. Themes include the nature of epidemiological change, the social and cultural significance and impact of each scourge, the organized public health response to each epidemic, and the development of medical therapeutics and technologies.

Recent Publications

Kazanjian P, Fisk D, Armstrong W, Shulin Q, Liwei H, Meshnick S. Increase in Pneumocystis carinii mutations in AIDS patients with PCP in the US and comparison with China. J Infect Dis 189:1684-1688, 2004.

Kazanjian PH. Changing Interest among Physicians towards Pneumococcal vaccination throughout the Twentieth Century J Hist Med Allied Sci 59: 555-587, 2004.

Nagappan, V, Kazanjian, P. Bacterial Infections in Adult HIV-Infected Patients. HIV Clin Trials 6:213-288, 2005.

Kazanjian P, Wei W, Gandhi T, Brown M, and Amin K. Viral Load Response to HAART is an Independent Predictor of a New AIDS Event in Late Stage HIV Infected Patients. J Translational Medicine 3:40-49, 2005.

Gandhi T, Wei W, Amin K, Kazanjian P. Effect of maintaining highly active antiretroviral therapy on AIDS events among patients with late-stage HIV infection and inadequate response to therapy. Clin Infect Dis 42 (6): 878-884, 2006.

Markowitz M, Slater LN, Schwartz R, Kazanjian PH, Hathaway B, Wheeler D, Goldman M, Neubacher D, Mayers D, Valdez H, McCallister S. Long-term efficacy and safety of tipranavir boosted with ritonavir in HIV-1-infected patients failing multiple protease inhibitor regimens - 80-week data from a phase 2 study. JAIDS 45 (4): 401-410, 2007.

Gandhi T, Nagappan V, Cinti S, Wei W, Kazanjian P. Long-term immunologic and virologic responses in patients with highly resistant HIV infection who are treated with an incompletely suppressive Antiretroviral regimen. Clin Infect Dis 45 (8): 1085-1092, 2007.

Riddell J IV, Kaul DR, Karakousis PC, Gallant JE, Mitty J, Kazanjian PH. Mycobacterium avium complex immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome: Long term outcomes - art. no. 50. J Translat Med 5: 50, 2007.