| Publications :: | Assistant
Professor of Pediatrics Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases 
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of pneumonias
of infants and children in the world. Over 100,000 infants are hospitalized
for RSV yearly in the USA. About 1% of infants hospitalized with RSV
die of their disease. There is no vaccine for this infection and no
effective therapy. Dr. John DeVincenzo has dedicated his career to
studying this virus, and to developing prevention and treatment strategies
for this common pediatric infection. Dr. DeVincenzo has just completed
a four-year effort in developing, standardizing and validating a new
methodology to measure the presence and quantity of RSV in children.
This new assay will be instrumental in the design and implementation
of future clinical trials of RSV therapies and studies of disease
pathogenesis. Dr. DeVincenzo’s research has had an impact on children’s
health in several ways. First, with CFRC support, Dr. DeVincenzo has for the first time established the relationship between disease
severity and RSV quantity. This simple relationship is crucial, as
it has helped modify the widely held belief that RSV disease is related
mainly to the immune response and not to the virus itself. Through
his research establishing this relationship between RSV quantity and
disease severity, the prospect of treating disease by eliminating
the virus through antiviral compounds becomes theoretically possible.
Dr. DeVincenzo has since helped lead five biotechnology companies
to direct efforts to develop RSV therapeutic antiviral programs. In
addition, he has also been influential through this research in redirecting
a current RSV antiviral program to target previously healthy children
who suffer from this disease. |
Buckingham SC, Jafri, HS, Bush AJ, Carubelli CM, Sheeran P, Hardy
DR, Ramilo O, DeVincenzo JP. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled
trial of dexamethasone in severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
infection: Effects on viral load and clinical outcomes. J
Infect Dis 185:1222-1228, 2002. DeVincenzo JP. Factors predicting childhood respiratory syncytial virus severity: what they indicate about pathogenesis. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2005; 24(11 Suppl):S177-183, discussion S182. Review. Perkins SM, Webb DL, Torrance SA, El Saleeby C, Harrison LM, Aitken JA, Patel A, DeVincenzo JP. Comparison of a real-time reverse transcriptase PCR assay and a culture technique for quantitative assessment of viral load in children naturally infected with respiratory syncytial virus. J Clin Microbiol 2005; 43(5):2356-2362 DeVincenzo JP, El Saleeby CM, Bush AJ. Respiratory syncytial virus load predicts disease severity in previously healthy infants. J Infect Dis 2005; 191(11):1861-1868. Epub 2005 Apr 21 Miyairi I, Causey KT, DeVincenzo JP, Buckingham SC. Group B streptococcal ventriculitis: a report of three cases and literature review. Pediatr Neurol 2006; 34(5):395-399 Avadhanula V, Rodriguez CA, DeVincenzo JP, Wang Y, Webby RJ, Ulett GC, Adderson EE. Respiratory viruses augment the adhesion of bacterial pathogens to respiratory epithelium in a viral species- and cell type-dependent manner. J Virol 2006; 80(4):1629-1636. Devincenzo JP. A new direction in understanding the pathogenesis of respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis: how real infants suffer. J Infect Dis 2007; 195(8):1084-6. Epub 2007 Mar 9. |