Soren M Gantt, MD, PhD

Professional History

Board Certified:

Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Pediatrics

Medical/Professional School:

New York University School of Medicine, New York

Residency:

University of Washington, Seattle, Pediatrics

Fellowship:

University of Washington, Seattle, Pediatric Infectious Disease

Clinical Interests:

Transmission and immunology of HIV and human herpes virus infections in children

Tropical medicine and global child health

Research Focus Area:

Virology
Infectious Disease

Description of Research:

One focus of my research is human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), the cause of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). KS is the most common cancer in many parts of Africa, including Uganda, where nearly everyone is infected with HHV-8 by adulthood. I am working with Dr. Corey Casper, and colleagues, in following Ugandan children from birth to determine when HHV-8 infection is acquired. The natural history of primary HHV-8 infection is then evaluated in these children with respect to clinical illness, viral replication patterns, and the development of immune responses.

My research has shown that some drugs used to suppress HIV infection have previously unrecognized activity against HHV-8 replication in vitro. As such, I am investigating the ability of specific antiretroviral therapy regimens to inhibit HHV-8 replication and their potential to reduce KS incidence among people co-infected with HIV and HHV-8.

In collaboration with Dr. Lisa Frenkel, I am studying the mechanisms by which infants become infected with HIV through breast milk in Zimbabwe. Breastfeeding now accounts for the majority of mother-to-child HIV transmission, a problem that is complicated by the lack of safe infant feeding options in much of Africa, where HIV prevalence is highest. Dr. Frenkel and I have shown that mastitis, or inflammation of the breast, markedly increases the amount of HIV in breast milk. Furthermore, we discovered that HIV in breast milk is strongly correlated with replication of cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus, two ubiquitous human herpes group viruses.

Ongoing studies are aimed at understanding the role of the infant immune response in the risk of HIV acquisition during breastfeeding.

Key Publications:

Gantt S, Persson C, Abagyan R, Rose K, Birkett AJ and Nussenzweig V (2000) Antibodies against TRAP do not inhibit Plasmodium sporozoite infectivity in vivo. Infect. Immun. 68(6): 3667-3673.

Thathy V, Fujioka H, Gantt S, Nussenzweig R, Nussenzweig V and Menard R (2002) Levels of circumsporozoite protein in the Plasmodium oocyst determine sporozoite morphology. EMBO J. 21(7):1586-96.

Benson C, Gantt S, Zerr DM, Qin X and Abe P (2005) Use of 16S ribosomal DNA polymerase chain reaction to identify Haemophilus influenzae type b as the etiology of pericarditis in an infant. Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. 24(3):287-8.

Gantt S, Shetty AK, Seidel KD, Matasa K, Musingwini G, Woelk G, Zijenah LS, Katzenstein DA and Frenkel LM (2007) Laboratory Indicators of Mastitis are Not Associated with Elevated HIV-1 DNA or Predictive of HIV-1 RNA Concentrations in Breast Milk. J. Infect. Dis. 196(4):570-6.

Gantt S, Carlsson J, Shetty AK, Seidel KD, Qin X, Mutsvangwa J, Musingwini G, Woelk G, Zijenah LS, Katzenstein DA and Frenkel LM (2008) Cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr Virus in Breast Milk are Associated with HIV-1 Shedding but Not With Mastitis. AIDS 22(12):1453-60. PMCID: PMC2504751.

Honors & Awards:

2006: Young Investigator Award, 13th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Denver, CO

2006-present: Clinical Research Scholar, KL2 Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Training Program, University of Washington