Wayne State researchers team up with UCLA to develop new treatment for mpox

Researchers from the Wayne State University School of Medicine have received a $3.5 million grant, "Defining Ocular Monkey Pox Pathogenic Mechanisms," from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health to study and develop treatments for the infectious disease mpox.

The five-year grant was awarded to Ashok Kumar, Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology, visual and anatomical sciences at Wayne State and co-principal investigator along with co-principal investigator Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami, D.V.M., Ph.D., professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

With this new grant, the collaborative team will work toward understanding how mpox virus spreads and causes injury within skin and eye tissue, identifying the genetic mutations that make newer strains of the virus more infectious and lethal, and developing new classes of antiviral drugs to treat infection and stop viral transmission.

Mpox is a viral illness caused by infection with mpox virus, formerly known as monkeypox virus. It produces flu-like symptoms and lesions that can spread across the body and sometimes infect the eyes.

In 2022, an mpox outbreak led to more than 100,000 cases worldwide, including more than 32,000 in the United States. There are three classifications of the virus: Clade I, Clade IIa and Clade IIb. While Clade I MPXV remains endemic to West and Central Africa, Clade II MPXV has caused numerous outbreaks worldwide. The 2022 outbreak in the United States was driven by the rapid spread of Clade IIb, a distinct lineage from previous strains.

"Mpox virus can cause a range of eye-related complications, collectively known as ocular mpox, with symptoms ranging from moderate to severe," Kumar said. "Common manifestations include conjunctivitis, keratitis and blepharitis, primarily affecting the ocular surface. My lab has developed experimental models to investigate the viral and host factors involved in ocular mpox. We plan to clone genes of Clade IIb to determine why it spreads so quickly and its tropism toward ocular tissues."

Kumar's team will lead all biosafety level 2 research activities, providing primary human corneal and conjunctival epithelial cells, as well as donor corneas for ex vivo infection studies, through a longstanding collaboration with Eversight Eye Bank. The lab will play a central role in advancing the understanding of the infection in ocular tissues and supporting the evaluation of candidate therapeutics, with UCLA leading all biosafety level 3 activities and antiviral drug discovery.

Although only a handful of cases from the newer strain have been reported in the United States, primarily in travelers, experts say the virus is rapidly evolving in ways that could eventually make it far more dangerous and widespread.

The grant follows a review by Kumar on the mpox virus and its ability to cause ocular complications, which gained NIH's attention in 2024. "Mpox virus and its ocular surface manifestations, " published in The Ocular Surface, underscored the importance of understanding how viruses like mpox affect eye health and highlighted recent advances in diagnosing and managing the condition.

"Infectious diseases know no borders," Kumar said. "What we witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic clearly showed the devastating impact of emerging viruses. To effectively combat mpox and other viral threats, we must deepen our understanding of their pathobiology and be proactively prepared. Strengthening research and surveillance is essential to stay ahead of these global health challenges."

"This grant from the National Institutes of Health is a great example of the importance of collaboration across institutions of higher education to help tackle complex challenges our society faces today and, in the future," said Ezemenari M. Obasi, Ph.D., vice president for research & innovation. "This collaboration between Wayne State and UCLA is a great example of how federally funded research projects are critical for providing a powerful platform to bring together expertise, resources and perspectives. By working in partnership, we not only accelerate scientific discovery, but also amplify our collective impact for the public good."

The project number for this award from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health is EY036572.

About Wayne State University

Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit research.wayne.edu .

Wayne State University's research efforts are dedicated to a prosperity agenda that betters the lives of our students, supports our faculty in pushing the boundaries of knowledge and innovation further, and strengthens the bonds that interconnect Wayne State and our community. To learn more about Wayne State University's prosperity agenda, visit president.wayne.edu/prosperity-agenda .