# Resource for Nonhuman Primate Immune Reagents

> **NIH NIH R24** · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE · 2024 · $432,561

## Abstract

This resource provides unique primate reagents and services not available commercially in support of NIH
funded investigators using nonhuman primates (NHP) as pre-clinical models for vaccine efficacy and
immunotherapies. State of the art investigations of immune responses related to human infectious diseases,
autoimmune diseases, organ and cell allogeneic and xenogeneic transplantation models or immunization
procedures that use NHP models increasingly include the use of recombinant cytokines, chemokines, growth
factors or immunomodulatory ligands in vivo. While the close evolutionary relationship between human and
nonhuman primates generally provides cross reactivity between most human recombinant factors when used
with NHP cells, differences in affinity/bioactivity have been noted. More important however, most NHP molecules
are not identical to human homologues, often leading to the development of neutralizing antibody responses to
the xenogeneic molecule in vivo, markedly restricting the repeated and most optimal in vivo use of select
immunomodulators in these models. The ready availability of standardized purified recombinant NHP reagents
has largely alleviated this limitation and allowed investigators to address seminal questions using NHP during
the past 15 years of funding. Of note, while some commercial companies have started to produce a limited set
of NHP cytokines, the costs charged by these companies is generally well beyond the budget of most NIH
research awards, further validating the continuous need for this Resource. In addition, testing of in vivo
administration of these reagents has markedly revised the clinical administration schedule, leading to more
tolerable and efficacious dosing. Last but not least, we propose to leverage the strengths available at NIRC in
imaging NHP technologies, to generate novel antibody based ligands for imaging technologies that are
increasingly used in support of scientific explorations. Thus, this application requests continued support for
allowing this Resource to provide NHP factors, in DNA and protein form. Specifically, the resource will perform
the following: 1. Continuation and expansion of preparation, optimization, testing and distribution of NHP
cytokines/chemokines and soluble receptors in protein and recombinant DNA expression vectors. 2. Generation
and optimization of primate specific PET and fluorescent probes to be used in vivo and 3. Collaboration with the
NIH Nonhuman Primate Immune Resource led Dr. D Magnani at UMass in the generation of noncommercially
available monoclonal antibodies to NHP cytokines.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10809710
- **Project number:** 5R24OD010947-20
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE
- **Principal Investigator:** Francois J Villinger
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $432,561
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2002-04-01 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10809710

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10809710, Resource for Nonhuman Primate Immune Reagents (5R24OD010947-20). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10809710. Licensed CC0.

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