Omar Harfouch
University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Anal cancer grows out of long-lasting infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), and it falls especially hard on people with or at risk for HIV. HIV weakens the immune response to HPV and helps the virus persist.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
human papillomavirus
high-risk HPV
anal cancer
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2030
What they work on
- Compare HPV16-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells, immune markers and L1 antibodies in blood between people with high estradiol/low testosterone and the reverse, using flow cytometry, stratified by HIV status.
- Track how hormone levels shape the immune response over time after the 9-valent HPV vaccine, measuring HPV-specific CD4 T cells and L1-specific antibodies in people with and without HIV.
- Characterize immune cells in anal tissue of people with anal HPV16 infection using confocal microscopy, comparing hormone groups stratified by HIV status and lesion type.
- Test whether hormone levels affect anal high-risk HPV persistence, defined as the same viral sublineage on whole-genome sequencing at baseline and at 6, 12 and 18 months.
More about the research
The immune response in the blood and in the anal lining is linked to clearing high-grade anal dysplasia, the precancerous change that comes before anal cancer. Sex hormones may matter too. Estrogen may change immune attack on HPV-infected cells in women, and higher testosterone has been linked to more anal HPV in men. Still, how sex steroids shape HPV immunity and persistence is poorly understood. That gap slows the development of immune-based HPV therapies for anal dysplasia.
Why it matters
People with or at risk for HIV face high rates of anal HPV infection and anal precancer. Knowing how estrogen and testosterone affect HPV immunity and persistence could support shared decision-making based on hormone levels. It could also guide anal cancer screening and the treatment of anal dysplasia. In addition, it could help in the design and interpretation of future HPV immunotherapy trials.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Filipa Godoy-Vitorino
University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences, PR·Microbiology & Immunology
Compare bacterial and fungal communities and metabolites in cervicovaginal samples from more than 300 women with or without cervical dysplasia (precancerous cell changes) and high-risk HPV.
James B Mclachlan
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how intradermal immunization with the detoxified enterotoxin adjuvant dmLT combined with bacterial outer membrane vesicles directs vaccine-specific T cells to mucosal tissues, tracked with MHC class I and II tetramers.
Whitney Wharton
Emory University, GA·Neuroscience
Test whether sex hormones measured in both blood and cerebrospinal fluid, estradiol, estrone, progesterone and testosterone, differentially influence Alzheimer's risk factors including inflammatory markers, sleep and cerebral blood flow in middle-aged women.
The school
University of Maryland, Baltimore: 23 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 79 research doctorates a year.
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