P. Patrick Cleary 20th Lancefield International Symposium on Streptococci and Streptococcal Diseases 2017

P. Patrick Cleary

Professor Patrick Cleary has probed the molecular basis of Streptococcus pyogenes pathogenesis for 45 years. He has been recognized for his outstanding teaching and elected to the American Academy of Microbiology and the Russian Academy of Medicine. His laboratory was the first to characterize the Vir regulon, to discover and define mechanisms of neutrophil chemotaxis inhibition, high frequency intracellular invasion and to define the T cell response to mucosal infection by these streptococci. He is the inventor of C5a peptidase based vaccines for prevention of S. pyogenes infections and their complications with numerous patents, licensed to Pfizer Inc. He showed that the primary response to S. pyogenes is Th17 T cells and that these cells are required for immune protection. The fact that Th17 cells are associated with several autoimmune diseases directed his most recent effort to understand the role Th17 cells in autoimmune neurologic disorders associated with streptococcal infections, Sydenham’s Chorea and the sudden onset of Obsessive Compulsive Behavior in children (PANDAS). Using state of the art T cell and neuroimaging methods he and his collaborators demonstrated that intranasal infection of mice leads to a Th117 population of cells that invade the forebrain and open the blood brain barrier to allow IgG deposition.