Supported Projects
Past
FRIDA has supported four major projects over the past few years:
A study investigating the role Chlamydia pneumoniae may play in the
development of Alzheimer’s disease, under the direction of Dr. Brian J. Balin
of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania- A study under the direction of Dr. David Naor of the Hebrew University–Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel. The project was designed to examine how inflammatory cells infiltrate joints in rheumatoid arthritis. This work led to an important publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2005.
- A study to confirm the presence of bacteria in the skin of patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, under the direction of Dr. Eric C. Vonderheid of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
- The educational program “Challenging View in Alzheimer’s Disease—Round 2,” organized by the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. The support was provided to facilitate dialogue and education regarding this complex and devastating disease.
Present
- An investigation to better our understanding of metastasis in prostate cancer. This was the second grant awarded to Dr. David Naor of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.
- Educational virtual lectures entitled “Interview With the Investigator.” This work was supported by the generosity of the Meniscus Educational Institute in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. To listen to these lectures, please go to the “About Diseases of Aging” page.
Future
- Antibiotic treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.—FRIDA is seeking funds to support a clinical trial to examine whether patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease exposed to appropriate antibiotics will respond by showing a change in the rate of progression of the disease. Patients receiving the present standard of care for Alzheimer’s disease will be compared with patients receiving the same treatment with the addition of antibiotics proven effective in reducing C. pneumoniae. Patients will be tested using standard cognitive testing performed on patients with suspected Alzheimer’s disease.
- Antibiotic treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.—FRIDA is seeking funds to permit patients confirmed to have mycosis fungoides or Sezary syndrome to be entered into a pilot clinical trial. The trial our clinical advisors envision would compare control patients, treated with standard therapy of either topical nitrogen mustard or psoralen and ultraviolet A, with patients in the experimental population that would receive either a fluoroquinolone or a macrolide antibiotic, which have been shown to be efficacious in treating C. pneumoniae infection.
- Vaccine development and prevention of infection.—FRIDA would like to support programs in conjunction with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the development of C. pneumoniae–specific vaccines. One of the previously supported laboratories has identified a new antigen that may prove useful in the development of a multivalent vaccine.
- Inflammation and infection.—FRIDA would like to continue supporting research seeking to better understand the underlying cause of inflammation that contributes to so many diseases of aging.