Robert H. Mealey
Robert H. Mealey, DVM, PhD
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine
Associate Professor
My primary research interests include equine infectious diseases and
immunology, with special emphasis on the immune control of equine infectious
anemia virus (EIAV). This virus has a world-wide distribution, and horses
that become infected with EIAV are infected for life. Most infected horses
have recurrent episodes of clinical disease, but eventually control the
infection to become lifelong inapparent carriers of the virus. Collaborative
work has shown that virus-specific immune responses are responsible for
controlling EIAV replication. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), which kill
virus-infected cells, are a critical component of this virus-specific immune
response, as are neutralizing antibodies. My research is focused on defining
the correlates of CTL and neutralizing antibody-mediated protection against
EIAV infection. Some of the objectives of current work are to identify the
viral proteins that must be recognized by protective CTL, as well as to
determine the functional characteristics of protective CTL. Information
gained thus far is being used to construct DNA-based vaccines designed to
induce EIAV-specific CTL in outbred horses. Once EIAV-specific CTL are
induced by vaccination, it will be determined if the induced CTL result in
protection. Current work also includes determining the breadth and
specificity of protective neutralizing antibody responses. Since EIAV is a
lentivirus, similar to the human immunodeficiency virus, the results of
these studies may also have implications for protecting people against AIDS.
