Dr. McCray's long-term goal is the development of improved treatments for pediatric lung diseases, especially cystic fibrosis (CF). His research interests include pulmonary innate immunity, host-pathogen interactions, and gene transfer. A major research project in the laboratory is directed at bringing an effective gene therapy for preventing and treating CF lung disease to the clinic. To this end, the research group is developing a lentiviral vector based on feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Delivering the CFTR gene to the chromosomes of airway progenitor cells using this vector may make it possible to permanently correct the CF defect. A second focus of the laboratory is learning how the normal and diseased lung responds to infections by bacteria and viruses. The McCray group is using several strategies to understand the functions of proteins secreted by the airway-lining cells that comprise the innate defenses of the lung. In addition, the group is using large-scale expression profiling to identify new genes that function in innate immunity. By using genechips to compare gene expression and function in normal and CF subjects, the group may discover new principles of airway defense with therapeutic applications. Ongoing studies are investigating the function of candidate host defense proteins identified using these approaches. By understanding how these proteins modulate normal airway defenses, the group expects to shed light on how innate defenses may go awry in the CF lung.
Selected Publications:
Bartlett, J.A., Hicks, B.J., Schlomann, J.M., Ramachandran, S., Nauseef, W.M., and McCray, P.B., Jr. 2008. PLUNC is a secreted product of neutrophil granules. J Leukoc Biol.
Kang, Y., Moressi, C.J., Scheetz, T.E., Xie, L., Tran, D.T., Casavant, T.L., Ak, P., Benham, C.J., Davidson, B.L., and McCray, P.B., Jr. 2006. Integration site choice of a feline immunodeficiency virus vector. J Virol 80:8820-8823.
Starner, T.D., Zhang, N., Kim, G., Apicella, M.A., and McCray, P.B., Jr. 2006. Haemophilus influenzae forms biofilms on airway epithelia: implications in cystic fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 174:213-220.
Sinn, P.L., Goreham-Voss, J.D., Arias, A.C., Hickey, M.A., Maury, W., Chikkanna-Gowda, C.P., and McCray, P.B., Jr. 2007. Enhanced gene expression conferred by stepwise modification of a nonprimate lentiviral vector. Hum Gene Ther 18:1244-1252.
