Paolo Lusso

Paolo Lusso
Portrait of Paolo Lusso
Born
Torino, Italy
CitizenshipItalian, US
EducationUniversity of Torino, Italy (M.D.)
Spouse(s)Patrizia Farci, M.D.
ChildrenEmanuele Lusso
Scientific career
FieldsVirology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases
WorkplacesNational Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda; San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan; University of Cagliari; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Bethesda

Paolo Lusso is an Italian doctor and scientist who specializes in virology and immunology. He is the Chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Section at the Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland, US. He is best known for his 1995 discovery of three chemokines (chemotactic cytokines) that naturally block HIV-1, RANTES, MIP-1α and MIP-1β, which inaugurated the field of HIV and chemokines.

Life and career

Paolo Lusso was born and raised in Turin, Italy, and earned his M.D. summa cum laude from the University of Turin in 1981. He later earned a Ph.D. in Oncology from the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), Rome, Italy, and was certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. In 1986, he joined the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology led by American biomedical researcher Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland (USA). He returned to Italy in 1994 to become the Chief of the Laboratory of Human Virology at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan. He also became associate professor of Infectious Diseases and director of the post-graduate school of Infectious Diseases first at the University of Bologna and later at the University of Cagliari. In 2006, he rejoined the National Institutes of Health, where he became chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Section in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He is the executive editor of Current HIV Research, an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM). He is married with Patrizia Farci, M.D. They have one son, Emanuele.

Research

Lusso's major scientific accomplishments include the establishment of the first connection between the fields of HIV-1 and the chemokine system with the discovery of three chemokines that naturally block HIV-1 (i.e., RANTES, MIP-1α and MIP-1β; cited nearly 4,000 times according to Google Scholar), the elucidation of multiple mechanisms of interaction between the CD4+ T-lymphotropic human herpesvirus HHV-6 and HIV-1, the in-vitro and in-vivo characterization of chemokine receptor usage by HIV-1, the identification of the cellular receptors for HHV-6 and HHV-7, the discovery of a second receptor (CD4)-binding site for HIV-1, and the development of a protective mRNA vaccine against HIV-1 (in collaboration with Moderna; featured on the cover page of the journal Nature Medicine). The HIV-1 vaccine designed by Lusso utilizes mRNA to instruct the body to produce virus-like particles (VLPs), which closely mimic real-life HIV-1 virions (albeit lacking infectivity) and, thereby, induce more effective immune responses. It has demonstrated protective efficacy in rhesus macaques.

Awards and recognitions

References

  1. ↑ "Paolo Lusso, M.D., Ph.D. | Principal Investigators | NIH Intramural Research Program". irp.nih.gov.
  2. ↑ D'Souza, M. Patricia; Harden, Victoria (December 1996). "Chemokines and HIV–1 second receptors". Nature Medicine. 2 (12): 1293–1300. doi:10.1038/nm1296-1293. PMID 8946819.
  3. ↑ Balter, Michael (8 December 1995). "Elusive HIV-Suppressor Factors Found: Three factors, secreted by immune system cells, that apparently work in concert to suppress HIV replication have been identified after a long search; a fourth molecule may also be involved". Science. 270 (5242): 1560–1561. doi:10.1126/science.270.5242.1560. PMID 7502059.
  4. ↑ Balter, Michael (1995-07-07). "Returning Émigrés Add New Luster to AIDS Research". Science. 269 (5220): 24–25. Bibcode:1995Sci...269...24B. doi:10.1126/science.7604274. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 7604274.
  5. ↑ "Paolo Lusso, M.D., Ph.D. | NIAID: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases". www.niaid.nih.gov. 15 August 2022.
  6. ↑ Cocchi, Fiorenza; DeVico, Anthony L.; Garzino-Demo, Alfredo; Arya, Suresh K.; Gallo, Robert C.; Lusso, Paolo (15 December 1995). "Identification of RANTES, MIP-1α, and MIP-1β as the Major HIV-Suppressive Factors Produced by CD8 + T Cells". Science. 270 (5243): 1811–1815. Bibcode:1995Sci...270.1811C. doi:10.1126/science.270.5243.1811. PMID 8525373.
  7. ↑ Lusso, P; Ensoli, B; Markham, PD; Ablashi, DV; Salahuddin, SZ; Tschachler, E; Wong-Staal, F; Gallo, RC (26 January 1989). "Productive dual infection of human CD4+ T lymphocytes by HIV-1 and HHV-6". Nature. 337 (6205): 370–3. doi:10.1038/337370a0. PMID 2463490.
  8. ↑ Lusso, P; De Maria, A; Malnati, M; Lori, F; DeRocco, SE; Baseler, M; Gallo, RC (7 February 1991). "Induction of CD4 and susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in human CD8+ T lymphocytes by human herpesvirus 6". Nature. 349 (6309): 533–5. doi:10.1038/349533a0. PMID 1846951.
  9. ↑ Lusso, P; Malnati, MS; Garzino-Demo, A; Crowley, RW; Long, EO; Gallo, RC (1 April 1993). "Infection of natural killer cells by human herpesvirus 6". Nature. 362 (6419): 458–62. Bibcode:1993Natur.362..458L. doi:10.1038/362458a0. PMID 7681936.
  10. ↑ Scarlatti, G; Tresoldi, E; Björndal, A; Fredriksson, R; Colognesi, C; Deng, HK; Malnati, MS; Plebani, A; Siccardi, AG; Littman, DR; Fenyö, EM; Lusso, P (November 1997). "In vivo evolution of HIV-1 co-receptor usage and sensitivity to chemokine-mediated suppression". Nature Medicine. 3 (11): 1259–65. doi:10.1038/nm1197-1259. PMID 9359702.
  11. ↑ Cocchi, F; DeVico, AL; Garzino-Demo, A; Cara, A; Gallo, RC; Lusso, P (November 1996). "The V3 domain of the HIV-1 gp120 envelope glycoprotein is critical for chemokine-mediated blockade of infection". Nature Medicine. 2 (11): 1244–7. doi:10.1038/nm1196-1244. PMID 8898753.
  12. ↑ Santoro, F; Kennedy, PE; Locatelli, G; Malnati, MS; Berger, EA; Lusso, P (23 December 1999). "CD46 is a cellular receptor for human herpesvirus 6". Cell. 99 (7): 817–27. doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81678-5. PMID 10619434.
  13. ↑ Lusso, P; Secchiero, P; Crowley, RW; Garzino-Demo, A; Berneman, ZN; Gallo, RC (26 April 1994). "CD4 is a critical component of the receptor for human herpesvirus 7: interference with human immunodeficiency virus". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 91 (9): 3872–6. Bibcode:1994PNAS...91.3872L. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.9.3872. PMC 43684. PMID 7909607.
  14. ↑ Liu, Q; Acharya, P; Dolan, MA; Zhang, P; Guzzo, C; Lu, J; Kwon, A; Gururani, D; Miao, H; Bylund, T; Chuang, GY; Druz, A; Zhou, T; Rice, WJ; Wigge, C; Carragher, B; Potter, CS; Kwong, PD; Lusso, P (April 2017). "Quaternary contact in the initial interaction of CD4 with the HIV-1 envelope trimer". Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 24 (4): 370–378. doi:10.1038/nsmb.3382. PMC 5798227. PMID 28218750.
  15. ↑ Zhang, P; Narayanan, E; Liu, Q; Tsybovsky, Y; Boswell, K; Ding, S; Hu, Z; Follmann, D; Lin, Y; Miao, H; Schmeisser, H; Rogers, D; Falcone, S; Elbashir, SM; Presnyak, V; Bahl, K; Prabhakaran, M; Chen, X; Sarfo, EK; Ambrozak, DR; Gautam, R; Martin, MA; Swerczek, J; Herbert, R; Weiss, D; Misamore, J; Ciaramella, G; Himansu, S; Stewart-Jones, G; McDermott, A; Koup, RA; Mascola, JR; Finzi, A; Carfi, A; Fauci, AS; Lusso, P (December 2021). "A multiclade env-gag VLP mRNA vaccine elicits tier-2 HIV-1-neutralizing antibodies and reduces the risk of heterologous SHIV infection in macaques". Nature Medicine. 27 (12): 2234–2245. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01574-5. PMID 34887575.
  16. ↑ Morris, L (December 2021). "mRNA vaccines offer hope for HIV". Nature Medicine. 27 (12): 2082–2084. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01602-4. PMID 34887576.
  17. ↑ Sarcina, Luigi Ripamonti e Giuseppe (9 December 2021). "Aids, l'italiano che ha guidato la ricerca sul vaccino: «Potrebbe essere pronto tra qualche anno»". Corriere della Sera (in Italian).
  18. ↑ Aluffi, Giuliano (9 December 2021). "Un vaccino contro Hiv. Parla il ricercatore italiano che ha utilizzato una tecnica a mRna". la Repubblica (in Italian).
  19. ↑ Bloom, Floyd E. (20 December 1996). "Breakthroughs of the Year, 1996". Science. 274 (5295): 1987. Bibcode:1996Sci...274.1987B. doi:10.1126/science.274.5295.1987. PMID 8984651.
  20. ↑ "Norman P. Salzman Memorial Awards and Symposium in Basic and Clinical Virology". FNIH. 2 January 2025. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  21. ↑ "Home - SIV-ISV Società Italiana di Virologia - Italian Society for Virology". siv-isv.org.
  22. ↑ De Filippis, A; Donalisio, M; Luganini, A; Caccuri, F; Esposito, F; Grandi, N; Zannella, C; Rubino, L; Tramontano, E; Vaccari, G; Galdiero, M; Caruso, A (18 June 2026). "Report from the 9th Italian Society for Virology (SIV-ISV) 2025 Annual Meeting". Viruses. 18 (6): 684. doi:10.3390/v18060684. PMC 13307661. PMID 42357693.