Nafees Ahmad

Nafees Ahmad

Professor, Immunobiology
Professor, Applied BioSciences - GIDP
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 626-7022

Research Interest

Nafees Ahmad, Ph.D., Professor of ImmunobiologyResearch Interests:1. Molecular mechanisms of HIV-1 vertical transmission2. Molecular mechanisms of HIV-1 pathogenesis in infants and children 3. Molecular mechanisms of HIV-1 infection in immature and mature mononuclear cells4. Identification and characterization of cellular factors involved in HIV-1 replication in immature and mature mononuclear cells5. Biological activity of anti-HIV compoundsThe main focus of my laboratory is understanding the molecular mechanisms of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) mother-to-infant transmission and pathogenesis of pediatric AIDS (HIV-1 infection in children). Areas of investigation include: Molecular and biological characterization of HIV-1 isolates involved in maternal-fetal transmission; Genetic variability of HIV-1 following mother-to-infant transmission; Viral determinants, including viral heterogeneity, functional conservation/divergence of various HIV-1 genes, presence/absence of motifs in HIV-1 genes, replication efficiency, cell tropism, and cytopathic effects associated with HIV-1 maternal-fetal transmission; Viral and host factors associated with HIV-1 evolution, replication, pathogenesis and disease progression in infected infants and children; Molecular mechanisms of HIV-1 infection in immature and mature mononuclear cells; Kinetics of HIV-1 replication in immature hosts (infants) primary lymphocytes and monocytes/macrophages; Mechanisms of HIV-1 infection in immature and mature mononuclear cells, including entry and post-entry events, HIV-1 gene expression and T-cell development, Biological activity of anti-HIV compounds in tissue culture system of T-cell lines, primary lymphocytes and monocytes/macrophages and receptor/coreceptor cell lines, Characterization of cellular factors in immature and mature mononuclear cells that may influence HIV replication differentially.

Publications

Ahmad, N. (2017). Characterization of HIV quasispecies in virologically controlled HIV-infected older patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. Journal of Virology.
Ahmad, N. (2017). Recovery of HIV-mediated Immune Aging of T Cells in Virologically Controlled HIV-Infected Aging Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.
Ahmad, N. (2017). Expression of HIV-specific IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha by CD8 T cells from HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. TBD.
Ahmad, N. (2015). Influence of HIV variability on transmission and pathogenesis. J Virology and Antiviral Research, 4(1). doi:doi:10.4172/2324-8955.1000136

HIV-1 exists as a genetically heterogeneous population within infected individuals and in infected population. Genetic variability or viral heterogeneity plays an important role in transmission, pathogenesis, immune response, disease progression and therapy as well as is the most effective way for the virus to evade the host immune response and persists in infected individuals. We have used HIV-1 infected motherinfant pairs as a transmitter-recipient model to elucidate the role of the molecular and biological properties of HIV-1 associated with transmission and pathogenesis. HIV-1 sequences derived from infected mothers were more heterogeneous than their younger infected infants’ HIV-1 sequences. However, the infants’ HIV-1 sequences diversified as they grew older. HIV-1 infants’ sequences were different from each other but similar or closer to their mother’s sequences. We found that the minor genotypes of HIV-1 found in mothers were transmitted to their infants, which was initially maintained as a homogeneous population in infants and diversified as the infants grew older. In addition, the phenotype of these minor geno types was macrophage-tropic, nonsyncytium inducing (NSI) referred as R5 HIV-1. We also analyzed several other regions of HIV-1 genome, including env, gag p17 and NC, pol RT, tat, rev, vif, vpr, vpu and nef infected mother-infant pairs and found that there was a high functional conservation of these genes. These findings suggested that HIV-1 heterogenity plays an important role in vertical transmission and pathogenesis. The properties of transmitted viruses and those that are associated with disease progression should be targeted for the development of new strategies for prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection. Research should focus utilizing these findings in the development of better strategies for prevention and treatment of HIV-1.