$3.8M Awarded To Feinstein Institutes For Sepsis, Radiation Study

MANHASSET, NY — Manhasset's Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research has been awarded a multi-million-dollar grant to study radiation exposure in sepsis patients, according to medical officials.

The five-year, $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will fund research that seeks to unravel the health effects of radiation exposure and improve sepsis treatments in victims of radiation injury, according to Northwell Health.

The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research is the research arm of Northwell Health, which is the largest healthcare provider in New York.

"The novel research, led by Feinstein Institutes' co-principal investigators Ping Wang, MD, Max Brenner, MD, PhD, and Monowar Aziz, PhD, will unravel the effects radiation has on immune cells, including neutrophils and macrophages, and how the body responds — or fails to respond — to invading bacteria, resulting in sepsis," a Northwell press release read. "The results may shed new insights into medical countermeasures for victims of significant radiation exposure with or without sepsis."

What is sepsis?

Sepsis is the human body's life-threatening and extreme response to an infection. If out of control, the inflammatory response can cause damage to multiple organ systems and often leads to death, according to Northwell.

Experts estimate it affects at least 1.7 million Americans annually, killing approximately 270,000 patients and accounting for 30 percent of all hospital deaths.

"If you are exposed to radiation, your immune system is then weakened and it's difficult for your body to fight off infection," said Dr. Wang, professor and chief scientific officer at the Feinstein Institutes. "With the support of the NIH, we hope to find molecular targets in a body exposed to radiation that could be used to boost the immune system so that complications, like sepsis, could be fought off."

Health effects of radiation exposure

Northwell says Feinstein Institutes' new study will examine the role of extracellular cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (eCIRP), an alarm molecule released during sepsis that causes immune dysfunction.

In this new research, officials say Drs. Wang, Aziz, and Brenner will explore the possibility of inhibiting the protein to ultimately counter immune system dysfunction in victims of major radiation exposure.

"Radiation exposure can cripple the immune system, so there is a significant need to understand how this occurs," said Dr. Kevin J. Tracey, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes. "The NIH support of Drs. Wang, Aziz, and Brenner offer a significant new opportunity to understand better the impact of radiation and the risks of subsequent immunosuppression and infection."

The Feinstein Institutes continues to spearhead research to study the molecular mechanisms of sepsis to develop treatments. Most recently, Dr. Wang also received a $2.5 million grant from the NIH to study how neutrophils, a type of white blood cell, interact with eCIRP.