{"63960":{"#nid":"63960","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Eva Lee Works with Research Team Probing Cocaine, HIV\/AIDS Drug Interactions","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEva Lee, professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial\nand Systems Engineering and director of the Center for Operations Research in\nMedicine and Healthcare, is leading the systems modeling and predictive\nanalysis components of a study investigating the biochemical mechanisms behind\ncocaine and anti-retroviral drug interactions in mouse models of AIDS. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers agree cocaine injures the heart and predisposes\nusers to HIV\/AIDS because of risky behaviors. What\u2019s more, the anti-retroviral\nmedicines used to treat HIV\/AIDS also may adversely affect the cardiovascular\nsystem. Used together, cocaine and anti-retroviral therapy can amplify the\ninjury from each.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ELee is working with cardiac pathologist William Lewis, who\nis the principal investigator of the study and a professor of pathology and\nlaboratory medicine in Emory University School of Medicine. The team also\nincludes consultant Michael Kuhar, PhD, Candler Professor of Neuropharmacology\nand Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar at Emory School of Medicine and\nYerkes National Primate Research Center; and former Emory faculty member and\nconsultant David Harrison, MD, currently at Vanderbilt University.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFor her part, Lee says that \u201cthe model must be capable of\nincorporating large amounts of heterogeneous data, including genomic,\nbiochemical, physiological and pathological.\u201d Continuing, she states that \u201cidentifying\nthe discriminatory features and constructing the predictive systems network\nwill offer fundamental understanding of cocaine, HIV\/AIDS and antiretroviral\nnucleosides interaction at multiple levels.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\nLee is encouraged that \u201cthis will shed light on promising avenues for\nimproving treatment strategies.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIt is estimated that more than 34 million Americans have\nused cocaine and more than 1.5 million are habitual users. Meanwhile, more than\na million Americans are infected with HIV or have full-blown AIDS.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Lewis, for decades, cocaine has been thought to\nincrease the risk for HIV infection. He states that \u201cHIV\/AIDS, along with the\nuse of cocaine and NRTIs [nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors] may lead\nto cardiomyopathy, a prevalent, life-threatening illness.\u201d Though antiretroviral\ndrugs have increased survival rates in those with HIV\/AIDS, Lewis says that \u201cunfortunately,\nthese drugs may be cardiotoxic.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EContinuing, he explains that \u201cresearch from our laboratory\nand others has shown that genetic products of HIV, along with antiretroviral\ndrugs, increases cells\u2019 oxidative stress, which causes damage to the heart\ncells, eventually leading to heart failure. Cocaine, HIV\/AIDS and\nantiretroviral nucleosides interact at multiple levels.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAbout the study, Lewis says that the researchers want to\nunderstand \u201cwhich switches are being turned on and which switches are being\nturned off at the level of the gene. This will enable us to formulate a\ntestable hypothesis on what mechanisms lead to cardiomyopathy and heart failure\nin AIDS and non-AIDS conditions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe study is being funded through a new $5.7 million grant\nfrom the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEva Lee, professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial\nand Systems Engineering and director of the Center for Operations Research in\nMedicine and Healthcare, is leading the systems modeling and predictive\nanalysis components of a study investigating the biochemical mechanisms behind\ncocaine and anti-retroviral drug interactions in mouse models of AIDS.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Eva Lee Works with Research Team Probing Cocaine, HIV\/AIDS Drug Interactions"}],"uid":"27328","created_gmt":"2011-01-28 17:03:24","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:06","author":"Edie Cohen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-01-28T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-01-28T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"49841":{"id":"49841","type":"image","title":"Professor Eva Lee","body":null,"created":"1449175373","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:42:53","changed":"1475894451","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:51","alt":"Professor Eva Lee","file":{"fid":"127007","name":"txe87354.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/txe87354_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/txe87354_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":58268,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/txe87354_0.jpg?itok=G8uBB6CA"}}},"media_ids":["49841"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"11781","name":"AIDS\/HIV"},{"id":"1043","name":"eva lee"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara \nChristopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}