Salim Merali, PhD

Our laboratory focuses on identifying novel biochemical approaches to the treatment/diagnosis of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) and cancer. PCP is associated with AIDS, malnourished infants and immunosuppressive drugs used for cancer, organ transplant and rheumatic diseases. Although we have explored many areas, including metabolism of folates, polyamines and iron, as well as culture, recently our emphasis has been on the metabolism of S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet). An intersection between pneumocystis and cancer research occurred as a result of a study of the relationship between plasma AdoMet and PCP.

We found PCP causes a drastic reduction in plasma AdoMet of experimental animals and became involved in a clinical investigation to determine whether this was also true in patients. We also found that AdoMet depletion does occur in human PCP; it is dramatic enough possibly to become the basis of a technique for minimally invasive diagnosis of this disease and for monitoring the response to therapy. In the course of the study we also discovered that cancer causes a remarkable increase in plasma AdoMet.