Immune-boosting strategies to help fight invasive mucormycosis in cancer patients
Official title: Project 3
Funded at Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center · NIH-11364102 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A research project tests immune-boosting approaches that could help cancer patients with a serious fungal infection improve their response to antifungal therapy.
Quick facts
| Grant type | P01 program project |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Torrance, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2025 |
| Project end | May 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $179,426 |
| NIH project number | 5P01AI186818-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11364102 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Persons with cancer who develop invasive mucormycosis and are severely immunocompromised, particularly those under chemotherapy or with AML-related immune dysfunction.
✕Less likely to help
Patients without invasive mucormycosis or those not undergoing antifungal therapy may not benefit.
What this research studies
This project studies whether readily available, non-cellular immune tools like immune checkpoint inhibitors, immune-activating cytokines, and growth factors can enhance immune recovery in patients with invasive mucormycosis who are severely immunocompromised. It uses three mouse models of mucormycosis under different immune-compromising conditions and analyzes clinical samples from cancer patients with the infection. The goal is to understand how immune paralysis develops, identify markers that predict outcomes, and prioritize targets for future clinical immunotherapy studies. Findings from this work would guide how to combine immune-based strategies with antifungal drugs to improve survival in high-risk patients.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this research could lead to new immune-based treatment options that boost antifungal effectiveness and improve outcomes for cancer patients with invasive mucormycosis.
How similar studies have gone: Prior work in infection-immunity suggests immune modulation can influence outcomes, but combining immune-boosting strategies with antifungals in mucormycosis is an area of active exploration.
Where this research is happening
-
Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Torrance, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kontoyiannis, Dimitrios P — Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Kontoyiannis, Dimitrios P
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.