Member SpotlightsGenetic Immunity Applications in Biodefense Research Sergey N. Rumyantsev M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. A Science Advisory Board Member Since 2002  Sergey N. Rumyantsev (left) with Nobel Laureate, Joshua Lederberg. This week The Science Advisory Board spent time catching up with former SAB Steering Committee member, Sergey N. Rumyantsev, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. Rumyantsev began his academic career at an early age in Russia; his gold medal for academic achievements in high school granted him free admittance to the elite Medical Military Academy in Saint Petersburg, where he received his medical degree cum eximia laude. His research in biodefense began at Sverdlovsk Medical Military Institute, where he studied the different forms of botulinum toxins and earned his Ph.D. He later explored genetic immunity with botulism and tetanus. His investigations resulted in a D.Sc degree from the Hamaleya Institute of Microbiology & Epidemiology in Moscow and a professor position at the Institute of Vaccines and Sera in Saint Petersburg. Rumyantsev has lived in the USA since 2001, where he now belongs to the New York Academy of Sciences and acts as a Research Advisor for Andent, Inc. Describe your early studies with research in biodefense at the Sverdlovsk Medical Military Institute. Our research group's goal was to assess the real danger of different types of botulinum toxins (A, B, C, D, E and F) as bioweapons. Absolutely safe technology of these experiments has been specially elaborated for testing individual susceptibility of humans. It has been found that susceptibility of humans to botulinum toxins is analogous to those of dogs and other omnivorous animals, i.e. far lower than has been thought before. It became clear that these toxins couldn't be used for the construction of effective biological weapons. How did these initial research efforts influence later endeavors? During this time, I became interested in the manifestations of genetic immunity and its origins. I discovered the phenomenon of human genetic immunity to botulism and undertook my D.Sc. studies, focusing on the origin of species and individual hereditary immunity to botulism, tetanus and other clostridioses. The results were presented in my doctorate, entitled "Evolutionary aspects of clostridioses epidemiology". The doctorate thesis illuminated a new concept of epidemiology based on the principles of mutual evolution of the microbe-victim ecological systems. The co-evolution leads to the creation and consequent improvement of both constitutional (genetic) immunity of victims and the pathogenicity of microbes by means of natural molecular ecological selection. The results of these investigations resulted in my D.Sc degree at the Hamaleya Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology in Moscow, as well as a professorship at the Institute of Vaccines and Sera in Saint Petersburg where I have contributed to the discovery of genetic immunity to influenza, salmonelloses and meningococcal infection. Our efforts were focused on the discovery of executive agents of hereditary immunity on the cellular and molecular level [4, 14, 25-27, 30, 32]. This approach is epidemiologically more informative, precise and practical than the revealing of relevant genes is. Based on the performed observations, experiments and their comprehension some main scientific paradigms were formulated and argued for the first time: - Evolutionary ecological conception of infectious epidemics [1, 19, 24, 29]. - Evolutionary ecological origin and molecular nature of hereditary immunity [4, 6, 14, 24-27, 29, 30, 32]. - Heterozygous origin of non-infectious diseases [8, 13, 16, 24, 28, 29]. These paradigms are based on the discovery of hereditary immunity. Their consequences allowed us to discover, argue and develop for the first time: - The impotence of bioweapons both for military and terrorists exploitation [3, 15, 18, 24]. - The existence of hereditary immunity to HIV infection in most humans [9, 11, 12]. - The existence of hereditary immunity to infectious diseases amongst the majority of humans [5, 14, 18, 20, 24, 29]. - The phenomenon of immune mosaicism and its epidemic significance [8, 17, 23, 24, 29]. - The necessity to repeal the routine total infectious prophylaxis and introduce the principle of individualized prophylaxis based on individual immunogenetic indications [8, 13, 17, 21, 22, 24, 29]. - The creation of methods and preparations for testing constitutional predisposition and immunity to salmonellosis, meningococcal infection, influenza, rabies, tick-born encephalitis [5, 8, 14, 20, 24, 26]. - The deciphering of heterozygous origin of individual diversity in the severity of diseases that was absolutely unknown before [2, 22, 24, 29]. - The leading function of both infections and hereditary immunity in anthropogenesis [5, 7, 24, 31]. Topics of biodefense have greatly increased in significance within the past few decades, in the scientific community and in the general public. When did you see increased interest in your research and publications? At the time of publication, all the above paradigms and their consequences were either out of the scope of relevant sciences or contrary to the beliefs of dominated scientific authorities of the time. It was over a decade before the recognition of the paradigms had been initiated with the first publication of a program article in Immunology Today [10]., 8th World Congress of Virology (West Berlin, 1990), 8th World Congress of Immunology (Budapest 1992), and the 17th International Congress of Genetics (Birmingham, UK 1993). It should be noted, that the first international conference on genetic immunity was organized by the Pasteur Institute (Paris, France) only in October 1996. I was invited to visit the Stockholm University (Dr. Hans G. Boman, 1989) and Harvard Medical School (Dr. Fred S. Rosen, 1995) where I gave seminars on hereditary immunity. Especially productive was my visit to the Rockefeller University that was made by invitation of Dr. Joshua Lederberg (1999) and simultaneously to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. I have been selected and named a Soros Professor and became a Member of the New York Academy of Sciences as well as of the USA's Scientific Advisory Board. In October 2001 I entered the USA according to the right of permanent residence that I have been granted by the State Department in the form of Green Card, category E-1, designated for the persons with extraordinary abilities. In your estimation, where should the majority of the research dollars be spent on biodefense research? Why do you believe so? ~ Counterproliferation ~ Environmental detection ~ Medical countermeasures ~ Other? I appreciate that the scientific community is turning from defense against bioweapons to biodefense against natural biological hazards, first of all infectious diseases. Thanks to foregoing evolution the absolutely majority of modern humankind has escaped from annihilation by any biological hazards. The infectious epidemics threatens only the genetically defenseless minority. In my estimation, the majority of the biodefense research dollars should be spent on medical countermeasures, first of all for the identification amongst populations of genetically defenseless persons. Most protective efforts should be concentrated around those who are in need. There is controversy concerning unmanageable outbreaks, and this has been blamed on a lack of openness and a lack of reliable & quick access to information. How do you think the global community, government and public, has adapted and prepared to potentially combat a future epidemic? The global community must prepare by screening the immune structures of populations to reveal the susceptible ones. The unsubstantiated government efforts to control outbreaks can be illustrated by useless spending of over $5 billion for bird influenza vaccine H5N1. This has been lobbied by the producers of the vaccine. What has been your greatest achievement so far? The highest of my new achievements is the forthcoming publishing of the book entitled ‘Hereditary Immunity: Fundamental Principles and Exploitation in Life Study and Health Care’ [24]. The purpose of this book is to fill the gap in a largely neglected fundamental branch of biology and medicine that is now becoming a hot topic. Although interest in the excellent protective power of hereditary immunity was sporadically characteristic of the history of immunology, its investigation has been out of the main stream of science. Its origin and the mode of action have been beyond comprehension and exploitation. The agnostic attitude began to change very dramatically only at the edge of 21st century. Until now, there has been no review book on the entire topic of hereditary immunity published in English. This is the first in-depth analysis of hereditary immunity both in the investigation of life and in health care. To discuss biodefense research and other topics with fellow Science Adivisory Board members, please visit our community forum. The following are publications and papers authored and co-authored by Rumyantsev that are relevant to this Member Spotlight. [1] Burgasov PN and Rumyantsev SN. (1974) Evolution of Clostridiosis [in Russian]. Meditsine, Moscow. [2] Rumyantsev S.N. (2002) Structural predestination of individual diversity in the course and severity of infectious diseases. The Scientific World JOURNAL 2, 205-216. [3] Rumyantsev S.N. (2004) Bioweapon: The Emperor's New Suit! Science Advisory Board. [4] Rumyantsev S.N., Avrova N.F., Pospelov V.F. and Denisova N.A. (1990) Influence of gangliosides on adhesive interaction of Neisseria meningitidis with human cells.[in Russian]. ZhMEI, 29-32. [5] Rumyantsev S.N., Shabalow N.P., Pyasetskaya M.F., Rogacheva N.M. and Bardakova L.I. (2000) Species, population and age diversity in cell resistance to adhesion of Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A, B and C. Microbes and Infection 2, 447-453. [6] Rumyantsev SN. (1983) Constitutional immunity and its molecular-ecological principles [in Russian]. Nauka, Leningrad. [7] Rumyantsev SN. (1984) Microbes, evolution, immunity. Nauka, The USSR Academy of Sciences, Leningrad. [8] Rumyantsev SN. (1986) The mosaic of organism: physiological, pathological and biotechnological aspects (in Russian). In: The state and the development's perspectives of agricultural biotechnology, pp. 210-215, Moscow. [9] Rumyantsev SN. (1992) AIDS: Fears are exaggerated. Moscow. [10] Rumyantsev SN. (1992) Observations on constitutional resistance to infection. Immunology Today 13, 184-187. [11] Rumyantsev SN. (1993) AIDS: Is it a big problem for Eurasia? In: IX International Conference on AIDS, p. 139, Berlin. [12] Rumyantsev SN. (1993) Diagnosis of inherent predisposition to AIDS. In: IX International Conference on AIDS, I, p. 157, Berlin. [13] Rumyantsev SN. (2003) The intra-individual diversity in senescence. Biogerontology 4, 171-178. [14] Rumyantsev SN. (2004) Toward Molecular Level of the "Salmonella-Victim" Ecology, Genetics, and Evolution. The Scientific World JOURNAL 1, 193-199. [15] Rumyantsev SN. (2004) The best defense against bioweapons has already been invented by evolution. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 4, 159-166. [16] Rumyantsev SN. (2005) Obesity: A Reckoning for Genetic Immunity to Infection and Xenogamy. Science Advisory Board. [17] Rumyantsev SN. (2005) Post-Infectious Immunity: the Origin of its Strength and Duration. Science advisory Board. [18] Rumyantsev SN. (2006) Biological Weapon. A Terrible Reality? Profound Delusion? Skillful Swindling? Vantage Press, New York. [19] Rumyantsev SN. (2006) Genetic immunity and influenza pandemics. FEMS immunology and medical microbiology 48, 1-10. [20] Rumyantsev SN. (2006) Genetic immunity and influenza pandemics. FEMS immunology 48, 1-10. [21] Rumyantsev SN. (2006) Obesity: a reckoning both for genetic immunity to infection and xenogamy. Medical Hypothesis 66, 535-540. [22] Rumyantsev SN. (2006) The origin of individual differences in the course and severity of diseases. The Scientific World JOURNAL 6, 1674-1704. [23] Rumyantsev SN. (2007) Reasons of the strength and duration of post-infectious immunity. J Chin Clin Med 2, 273-281. [24] Rumyantsev SN. (2008) Hereditary Immunity: Fundamental Principles and Exploitation in Life Study and Health Care. Nova Science Publishers, New York. [25] Rumyantsev SN, Aron RA and Beljakova IV. (1989) Adsorbing interaction of influenza viruses with human and animal cells.[in Russian]. pp. 99-104. All-union Research Institute of Influenza, Leningrad. [26] Rumyantsev SN, Aron RA and Belyacova IV. (1990) Innate predisposition and immunity of cells to the adhesion of influenza viruses. In: VIIIth International Congress of Virology. Abstracts, p. 388, Berlin. [27] Rumyantsev SN, Bobrakova LV and Perkus LV. (1978) Genetic limitations of erythrocyte lysis by Salmonella genus bacteria.[in Russian]. Genetika, 2037-2041. [28] Rumyantsev SN and Gerasimov VK. (1991) Principle of organism mosaicism: the basis of general theory of pathology. The Works of Leningrad Society of Pathologoanatomists [In Russian] 32, 202-2006. [29] Rumyantsev SN and Gerasimov VK. (2007) The Origin and Functions of Biodiversity in Infectious and Non-Infectious Diseases. In: Focus on Biodiversity Research (Schwartz J, Ed.), pp. 199-300. Nova Science Publishers. [30] Rumyantsev SN, Pospelov VF, Rogacheva NM and et al. (1990) Adhesive properties of meningococci groups A, B and C. Zh. Mikrobiol Epidemiol Immuno, 29-32. [31] Rumyantsev, S.N. (1997) Chemical ecology and biomolecular evolution. Acta. Biotheor. 45, 65-80. [32] Rumyantsev, S.N. (1998) Constitutional and non-specific immunity to infection. Rev. sci. tech. Off. int. Epiz. 17, 26-42. italicizedTextGoesHere ### << Previous Next >> [ View All Member Spotlights ] |
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