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A $6 million federal grant has put the School of Medicine among the growing ranks of prestigious institutions studying alternative and complementary medicine, once considered a backwater of mainstream healthcare.
The grant is from the prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) and creates a Center of Excellence for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research on Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disease, one of only three created this year to study similar therapies and one of only 11 in the nation.
Prakash Nagarkatti, associate dean for basic science in the School of Medicine, is the principal investigator for the grant and will lead the study on the mechanism by which resveratrol, a compound in the skin of red grapes, may help treat multiple sclerosis.
Mitzi Nagarkatti, chair of the Department of Pathology and Microbiology, will study how a compound in hemp may be useful in treating autoimmune hepatitis, and Lorne Hofseth, an assistant professor in the S.C. College of Pharmacy, will study the anti-inflammatory properties of American ginseng in treating colitis.
"One day, a compound in red grapes may be just what the doctor orders to treat multiple sclerosis," Prakash Nagarkatti said. "Colitis may be treated with American ginseng, and a compound from hemp oil could treat autoimmune hepatitis."
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| Harris Pastides |
The NIH funding underscores the fact that Carolina researchers are increasingly competitive for major federal grants, Harris Pastides, the University's vice president for research and health sciences, said.
"NIH has created national centers of excellence to study complementary and alternative medicine at some of the nation's top research institutions, and having the University of South Carolina included in this group is a testament to our growing research reputation."
The other two centers receiving funding and creating Centers of Excellence for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine are UCLA, which will study a variety of dietary and herbal supplements to prevent and treat pancreatic diseases, and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, which will examine whether natural compounds from grapes protect against Alzheimer's disease. Mount Sinai already has a Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine research centers established previously by NIH are at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Oregon State and Temple universities, and the universities of Maryland, North Carolina, and California at San Francisco.
Prakash Nagarkatti said research to explore the benefits and risks of alternative and complementary medicine is vital because Americans spend billions of dollars each year on treatments and products outside conventional medicine.
"We need to know what's effective," he said, "and what products and treatments complement traditional medicine. The centers established by NIH are focused on the biological effects of specific compounds from plants and how they affect the treatment of specific diseases."
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| Donald DiPette |
Donald DiPette, dean of the School of Medicine, said, "The award of this prestigious center grant from the National Institutes of Health is a tremendous accomplishment for our University, the School of Medicine, and the community. I am extremely proud of our faculty research team led by Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti."
The NIH award is a milestone for Carolina, DiPette said. "The award required senior investigators across disciplines to come together as a team," he said. "This grant and the research that will be performed will substantially increase our national and international visibility and reputation."
Prakash and Mitzi Nagarkatti said they became interested in the study of alternative medicine when they joined Carolina's faculty about two years ago.
"Other university researchers had an interest in this field, and it seemed to be a good fit with the types of research that we were conducting," Mitzi Nagarkatti said. "This is an exciting and relatively new field of research, and it brings together researchers from a number of disciplines at the University."
The Nagarkattis, who came to Carolina from the Medical College of Virginia, are nationally and internationally recognized for their immunology research. Their research team includes several junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, technicians and graduate students. Robert Price and Narendra Singh at Carolina's medical school will study the toxicity of plant products on the immune system.
For more information about the NIH Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, go to nccam.nih.gov.
10/07
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Prakash Nagarkatti, left, and Mitzi Nagarkatti
