On Feb. 21st, Soman Abraham, PhD , gave a talk titled “Cross Talk Between Infections, Agents, and the Immune System” at the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine & Urogenital Reconstruction 2024 Winter Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In his talk, he described the underlying reasons behind pelvic pain and urinary frequency seen in patients with recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI’s).
A few days later, he presented a talk titled “Regulation of Mast Cell Regranulation”at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAI) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. In it, he revealed how mast cells, which are immune cells implicated in asthma and allergy, prolong disease through their unique capacity to undertake multiple bouts of activation. A top-tier educational event for allergist/immunologists, the meeting featured more than 270 hours of educational sessions led by premier researchers in allergy, asthma, and immunology.
Abraham’s study of UTIs spans over 30 years. In April 2023, The National Institute of Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious Diseases awarded him and Duke colleague Herman Staats, PhD, a two-year R21 grant titled “A Novel Vaccination Strategy to Curb recUTIs.” UTIs represent the second most-common bacterial infections in humans, and are remarkable because of their high recurrence rate. In many cases, a UTI recurs within six months of the first infection. Current vaccine strategies comprising intramuscular injections to combat UTIs have had limited effects in reducing these recurrences.