Research Supported The research project that the Friends of Jason Gould Foundation has chosen to receive the benefits of our 2009 fundraising is the PTLD vaccine study being done at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. PTLD (post transplant lymphoproliferative disorder ) is caused by the Epstein Barr virus which causes "mono". In an immune suppressed transplant patient, it is very opportunistic and can become a very aggressive form of lymphoma, with a high mortality rate. Dr Michael Caligiuri, Dr Rob Baiocchi and their team of research scientists are passionately committed to researching and developing a PTLD vaccine that will be given to transplant patients at the time of transplant in order to prevent this horrible complication from occurring in the immune suppressed transplant patient. Clinical trials and FDA approval will be followed by the vaccine getting into transplant centers. Funding is needed to move this into transplant centers in the near future. The Friends of Jason Gould Foundation is committed to supporting this exciting research and these incredible research scientists in Jason's behalf. It is our hope that this dreaded complication of a transplant can be eliminated! More Information on (PTLD) post transplant lymphoproliferative disease PREVENTION OF PTLD PTLD is caused by a virus known as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Work produced by our labs here at OSU a few years ago helped us identify key EBV proteins that the human immune system “sees” and targets in its response to the virus. From work with our PTLD patients, we have evidence that tells us when our immune system effectively recognizes these proteins, PTLD tumors shrink and patients survive. We are presently making a vaccine to prevent PTLD by boosting immunity to these key EBV proteins. Recent developments have made it very likely that we will be opening a clinical trial administering this vaccine to transplant patients during 2009 calendar year. TREATMENT OF PTLD We are opening 2 clinical trials to treat patients who develop PTLD. One is for patients that develop PTLD in the central nervous system (primary CNS PTLD: brain, spinal cord) and the other trial treats patients who develop PTLD in other parts of the body (systemic PTLD). We are using our OSU and national PTLD groups to refine both studies and will hopefully have these trials open at multiple transplant centers. IDENTIFYING RISK FACTORS FOR PTLD We have a study looking at specific genetic changes that may help identify which patients are at risk for developing PTLD. We currently have the cooperation of physicians at 6 transplant centers (Univ Hosp Cleve, Cleveland clinic, Pittsburgh, Indiana, OSU, and Washington University) who will be collecting blood samples from patients with PTLD so we can check their DNA for this specific genetic variation. We hope that we will be able to use this test to identify patients at risk so we can follow them closely and offer potential experimental measures to prevent PTLD. DEVELOPMENT OF PTLD FOCUS GROUPS Dr. Robert Baiocchi is currently leading a multidisciplinary PTLD focus group consisting of physicians and scientists from transplant surgery, transplant medicine, bone marrow transplantation, infectious disease and medical oncology. We are working together to develop a uniform approach to treat patients with PTLD. We have also established a group of transplantation centers on a national level that we plan to work with to enroll patients on these trials.