Since 2022 we have been supporting Victor Michel, MD of the Paediatric Immuno-hemato-oncology unit of Rouen City. His scholarship has been granted by Professor Dr Alain Fischer, whom we awarded the Jung Gold Medal for Medicine in 2022. This prize is associated with a scholarship of currently 30,000 euros and can be awarded to a young scientist of the laureates choice.
Victor Michel met Professor Fischer for the first time during his Medicine Undergraduate Foundation programme and has impressed him to such an extent that our Gold medal laureate thought him a worthy scholarship holder. Since 2022, the recipient has been working on his research question "Study of populations at risk of developing chronic hepatitis linked to chronic enteric virus infection in patients with primary immunodeficiency and secondary humoral deficiency".
In this context, he has studied four cohorts of people to identify populations at risk of EVAH (enteric virus associated hepatitis). General research in this area has shown that Dysimmune and specially hepatic immuno-pathological processes are frequent in patients with PIDs (primary immune deficiencies), particularly but not exclusively in patients with humoral defects. In the latter, nodular regenerative hyperplasia is a frequent complication. It is often associated with chronic enteropathy. In his study, Victor Michel, with his team, have put forward the thesis that these processes may be due to a chronic viral infection with enteric virus and the immune response that it generates.
They were therefore sampling clinical and biological information, in particular genetic and immunological, relating to the immune and inflammatory damage of these patient groups, including
- Primary humoral immune deficiencies
- Secondary humoral immune deficiencies (following anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies, CAR-T cells)
- Combined immunodeficiencies
- Severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID) after allograft with humoral defect
They are using stool samples, plasma, urine and organ biopsies, when available, to test for enteric viruses. To characterize the associated immunological processes, they are also using ancillary studies aimed at characterizing the leukocyte populations in the circulating blood. Specifically in EVAH patients, he and his team furthermore study specific anti-viral cellular responses.
We are very happy to be part of this study and to support this promising young researcher in his career.