publications, contact information

Peter Hotez, M.D. (Cornell), Ph.D. (Rockefeller). Professor and Chair. Discovery and development of appropriate technology for neglected tropical diseases. Vaccine discovery, development and testing for human hookworm infection

Description of research

My research interest is in the discovery, development and evaluation of appropriate technology, e.g., vaccines, diagnostics and drugs, for the neglected tropical diseases. The neglected tropical diseases are a group of conditions that occur almost exclusively in rural areas of poverty in the developing world. I currently serve as the Principal Scientist of the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative (HHVI), a public private partnership sponsored by the Sabin Vaccine Institute with major funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The four-fold mission of the HHVI is:

  • Research & Development : To develop a safe, efficacious, and low-cost vaccine in order to reduce the burden of disease caused by human hookworm infection
  • Dissemination : To ensure that the Human Hookworm Vaccine is made available to impoverished people living in Africa , Asia , and the Americas
  • Innovation : To conduct basic and applied research that will facilitate the development of new tools for hookworm control
  • Advocacy : To make the scientific and lay communities aware of the importance of human hookworm infection and related neglected diseases as public health threats

In addition to my research interests, I have an educational and advocacy interest to promote training in appropriate technology for research institutes and schools in developing countries and curricula of U.S. medical and public health schools.

Selected Publications

Original Articles

Brooker S, Jardim-Botelho A, Quinnell RJ, Geiger SM, Caldas IR, Hotez PJ, Correa-Oliveira R, Rodrigues LC, Bethony JM. Age-relationships of hookworm infection, anemia and iron deficiency in an area of high Necator americanus hookworm transmission in northeast Minas Gerais State, Brazil. TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE 2007; 101: 146-54.

Fujiwara RT, Zhan B, Mendez S, Loukas A, Bueno LL, Wang Y, Plieskatt J, Oksov Y, Lustigman S, Bottazzi ME, Hotez P, Bethony JM. Protection against hookworm infection elicited by vaccinatin with recombinant Ac-16 is mediated by reduction of worm fecundity and canine host blood loss. CLINICAL VACCINE AND IMMUNOLOGY 2007; 14: 281-7.

Feng J, Zhan B, Liu Y, Liu S, Williamson A, Goud G, Loukas A, Hotez P. Molecular cloning and characterization of Ac-MTP-2, an astacine-like metalloprotease released by adult Ancylostoma caninum. MOLECULAR AND BIOCHEMICAL PARASITOLOGY 2007; 152: 132-8.

Hotez PJ. Control and elimination of onchocerciasis – the next generation. LANCET 2007; 369: 1979-80.

Asojo OA, Homma K, Sedlacek M, Ngamelue M, Goud GN, Zhan B, Deumic V, Asojo O, Hotez PJ. X-ray structures of NaGST-1 and NaGST-2 two glutathione S-transferase from the human hookworm Necator americanus. BMC STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY 2007; 7:42.

Inan M, Fanders SA, Zhang W, Hotez PJ, Zhan B, Meagher MM. Saturation of the secretory pathway by overexpression of a hookworm (Necator americanus) protein (Na-ASP-1). METHODS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2007; 389: 65-76.

Xiao S, Zhan B, Xue J, Goud GN, Loukas A, Liu Y, Williamson A, Liu S, Deumic V, Hotez P. The evaluation of recombinant hookworm antigens as vaccines in hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) challenged with human hookworm, Necator americanus. EXPERIMENTAL PARASITOLOGY 2008; 118: 32-40.

Yamey G, Hotez P. Neglected tropical diseases. BMJ 2007; 335: 269-70.

Hotez PJ , Molyneux DH, Fenwick A, Kumaresan J, Ehrlich Sachs S, Sachs JD, Savioli L. Control of neglected tropical diseases. NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE 2007; 357: 1018-27.

Hotez P, Raff S, Fenwick A, Richards F Jr, Molyneux D. Recent progress in integrated neglected tropical disease control. TRENDS IN PARASITOLOGY 2007; 23: 511-4.

Hotez P . A new voice for the poor. PLoS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES 2007; 1: e77.

 Hotez P . Measuring neglect. PLoS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES 2007; 2; e118.

Mendez S, D’Samuel A, Antoine AD, Ahn S, Hotez P. Use of the air pouch to investigate immune responses to a hookworm vaccine containing the Na-ASP-2 protein in rats. PARASITE IMMUNOLOGY 2008; 30: 53-6.

Brooker S, Akhwale W, Pullan R, Estambale B, Clarke SE, Snow RW, Hotez PJ. Epidemiology of Plasmodium-helminth co-infection in Africa: populations at risk, potential impact on anemia, and prospects for combining control. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGEINE 2007; 77: 88-98.

Hotez PJ. Hookworm and poverty. ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 2007; [EPub ahead of print].

Hotez P. Neglected diseases in the “Other America”: the greatest health disparity in the United States? PLoS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES 2007; 3: e149.

Diemert D, Bethony J, Hotez PJ. Hookworm Vaccines. CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2008; 46: 282-8.

Hotez PJ . The giant anteater in the room: Brazil’s neglected tropical diseases. PLoS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES 2008; 2: e177.

Hotez PJ , Brindley P, Bethony J, King CH, Pearce E, Jacobson J. Helminth infections: the great neglected tropical diseases. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION 2008; 118: 1311-21.

Hotez PJ . Reinventing Guantanamo: From detainee facility to center for research on neglected diseases of poverty in the Americas. PLoS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES 2008; 2: e201.

Sabatelli L, Ghani AC, Rodrigues LC, Hotez PJ, Brooker S. Modelling heterogeneity and the impact of chemotherapy and vaccination against human hookworm. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE 2008 [EPub ahead of print].

Hotez PJ, Molyneux DH, Fenwick A, Savioli L, Takeuchi T. A global fund to fight neglected tropical diseases: is the G8Hokkaido Toyako 2008 Summit ready? PLoS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES 2008; 2: e220.

Bethony JM, Simon G, Diemert DJ, Parenti D, Desrosiers A, Schuck S, Fujiwara R, Santiago H, Hotez PJ. Randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of the Na-ASP-2 Hookworm Vaccine in unexposed adults. VACCINE 2008 [Epub ahead of print]

 Book Chapters

Hotez PJ. Stigma: the stealth weapon of the NTD. PLoS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES 2008; 2: e230.

Hotez PJ. Holidays in the sun and the Caribbean’s forgotten burden of neglected tropical diseases. PLoS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES, in press.

Hotez PJ . Hookworms (Necator americanus and Ancylostoma spp) (Chapter 289). In: NELSON TEXTBOOK OF PEDIATRICS 18 th EDITION (eds Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton B) Saunders/Elsevier, 2007; pp. 1496-9.

Hotez PJ . Hookworm infection. In: IMMIGRANT MEDICINE (Eds. PF Walter, E Barnett) Elsevier, 2007; pp. 443-6.

Hotez PJ , Bethony JM. Parasitic disease vaccines (Chapter 55). In: VACCINES, FIFTH EDITION (Eds Plotkin S, Orenstein W, Offit P) Saunders Elsevier, 2008; pp. 1295-1300.

Hotez PJ , Diemert D. Hookworm infection vaccines. In: VACCINES AGAINST BIOTHREATS AND EMERGING INFECTIONS (Eds. LR Stanberry, ADT Barrett) Elsevier, in press.

Bethony JM, Bottazzi MD, Brown AS, Diemert D, Loukas A, Hotez PJ. Hookworm vaccines. In: NEW GENERATION VACCINES, 4 th EDITION (Eds MM Levine, G Dougan, MF Good MA Liu, GJ Nable, JP Nataro, R Rappuoli), Informa Healthcare, in press.

Links

Antipoverty Vaccines - New York Academy of Sciences

Contact information

Tel. 202-994-3532
Fax. 202-994-2913
E-mail mtmpjh@gwumc.edu or photez@gwu.edu