Latinovic, Olga | University of Maryland School of Medicine

Academic Title:

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Primary Appointment:

Microbiology and Immunology

Email:

olatinovic@ihv.umaryland.edu

Location:

Institute of Human Virology, N 615

Phone (Primary):

(410) 706-2769

Fax:

(410) 706-1992

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Education and Training

2001: Master of Science, Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA
2006: PhD, Lehigh University, PA.
2006-2007: Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Human Virology (IHV), University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI)
2007-2008: Research Associate, IHV, UMBI
2008-2010: Research Associate, IHV, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM)
2011-2021: Assistant Professor, IHV, UMSOM, Department for Microbiology and Immunology
2018-2020: Master of Business Administration, Specialization in Health Care - Merrick Business School, University of Baltimore

Biosketch

The ability of HIV-1 to develop resistance to antiviral drugs is well documented. This fact necessitates that virologists consider the virus’s ability to adapt. Dr. Latinovic’s research focus is on developing novel antiretroviral therapy strategies that block HIV-1 entry with minimum side effects. By blocking viral entry, infection of new cells is prevented.

An attractive antiretroviral target of great interest is the cellular chemokine co-receptor CCR5 because of its critical role in HIV-1 entry. CCR5, a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), is the predominant HIV-1 coreceptor during horizontal transmission (i.e. during primary infection) and early stages of HIV-1 spread within infected individuals. It is an especially attractive antiretroviral target because it is relatively dispensable for normal immune function and human health, which minimizes potential side effects produced by drugs directed at CCR5. The relative dispensability of CCR5 coreceptor is demonstrated in individuals homozygous for the Δ32 mutation of CCR5. These individuals are highly resistant to HIV-1 infection.

To validate drugs targeting CCR5 coreceptor, Dr. Latinovic’s most recent research interest and published work use humanized mouse models that are reconstituted with human hematopoietic cells. These hu-mouse models mimic the natural course of HIV-1 infection in humans and effectively allow for validation of drug treatment. Ultimately, antiretroviral strategies so validated, can be potential candidates for future clinical trials in humans.

Research/Clinical Keywords

HIV-1 Entry Inhibition In Vivo

Highlighted Publications

Weichseldorfer, M., Tagaya, Y., Reitz, M., DeVico A. L. & Latinovic, O. S. Identifying CCR5 coreceptor populations permissive for HIV-1 entry and productive infection: Implications for In Vivo Studies. Journal of Translational Medicine, 20:39. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-022-03243-8. (2022)

Weichseldorfer, M., Reitz, M., & Latinovic, O.S. Past HIV-1 Medications and the Current Status of Combined Antiretroviral Therapy Options for HIV-1 Patients. Pharmaceutics, 13: (11), 1798; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13111798. (2021)

Weichseldorfer, M., Affram, Y., Heredia, A., Rikhtegaran-Tehrani, Z., Sajadi, M.M., Williams, S.P., Tagaya, Y., Benedetti, F., Ramadhani, H.O., Denaro, F., Bryant, J., Zella, D., Reitz, M., Romerio, F. & Latinovic, O.S. Combined cART Including Tenofovir Disoproxil, Emtricitabine, and Dolutegravir Has Potent Therapeutic Effects in HIV-1 Infected Humanized Mice, Journal of Translational Medicine, JTRM-D-21-02624.DOI:10.21203/rs.3.rs-915826/V1. (2021)

Benedetti, F., Silvestri, G., Mavian Nartuhi, C., Munawwar, A., Weichseldorfer, M., Cash, M.N., Dulcey, M., Vittor, A.Y., Ciccozzi, M., Salemi, M., Latinovic, O.S. and Zella, D. Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 receptors expression in primary endothelial cells and retinoic acid-differentiated human neuronal cells. Viruses, 13(11), 2193. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13112193 (2021)

F. Denaro, F. Benedetti, M. D. Worthinton, G. Scapagnini, C. Krauss, S. Wiliams, J. Bryant, H. Davis, O. S. Latinovic and D. Zella. The HIV-1 Transgenic Rat: Relevance for HIV Noninfectious Comorbidity Research, Microorganisams, 8, 1643; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33114165 (2020)

Daniele Basta and O. S. Latinovic. The Potential Detrimental Role of High Salt Diet in Promoting Exaggerated Th-17 Responses in COVID-19 Patients, an Intriguing Hypothesis. Journal of Clinical Lab Medicine 5 (1) dx.DOI.org/10.16966/2572-9578.135. (2020)

Matthew Weichseldorfer, Yvonne Affram, Alonso Heredia, Yutaka Tagaya, Francesca Benedetti, Davide Zella, Marvin Reitz, Fabio Romerio and O. S. Latinovic Anti-HIV Activity of Standard cART in Primary Cells Is Intensified by CCR5-Targeting Drugs, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, (2020) PMID: 32623916 DOI: 10.1089/AID.2020.0064

Weichseldorfer M, Heredia A, Reitz M, Bryant J.L. and Latinovic O.S., Use of Humanized Mouse Models for Studying HIV-1 Infection, Pathogenesis and Persistence, J AIDS and HIV Treatment, Volume 2, Issue 1, (2020)

Turri V., Latinovic O.S., Bonafè M., Toyang N., Parigi M., Calassanzio M., Martelli P.L., Vagheggini A., Abbati G., Sarnelli A., Casadio R., Ratti C., Massi P., Schoelz J.E., Salvato M.S., Piccinini F., Martinelli G., Cauliflower mosaic virus proteins in human glioblastoma cells: Cytoplasmic and nuclear expression, BioMed Research International, doi: 10.1155/2020/7465242. eCollection (2020)

Benedetti F., Cocchi F., Latinovic O. S., Curreli S., Krishnan S., Munawwar A., Gallo R.C., Zella D., Role of Mycoplasma Shaperone DnaK in Cellular Transformation, Int Journal of Mol Sci, 21 (4). doi: 10.3390/ijms21041311. (2020)

Additional Publication Citations

Books

O. S. Latinovic, Micromechanics and Structure of Soft and Biological Materials: An Optical Tweezers Study, Verlag Dr. Muller Publishing, ISBN (978-3-639-23050-5), (2010).
Ming-Tzo Wei, O. S. Latinovic, L. A. Hough, Y.-Q. Chen, H. D. Ou-Yang, A. Chiou, "Studying microrheology of soft and living materials using optical trapping," in Handbook of Photonics for Biomedical Engineering, Kim, Donghyun; Ho, Aaron H.-P.; Somekh, Michael G. (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, (2016). ISBN 978-94-007-5053-1.

All Publications

A. Heredia, B. Gilliam, O. S. Latinovic, N. Le, D. Bamba, A. DeVico, G.B. Melikian, R. C. Gallo and R. R. Redfield, Rapamycin reduces CCR5 density levels on CD4 T cells and this effect results in potentiation of Enfuvirtide (T-20) against R5 HIV-1 in vitro, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Volume 51, No.7, 2489-2496 (2007)

A. Heredia, O. S. Latinovic, R. C. Gallo, G. B. Melikian, M. Reitz, N. Le and R. R. Redfield, Low doses of Rapamycin enhance the antiviral activity of CCR5 antagonist VCV against wild-type and drug resistant R5 HIV-1, Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 105, No. 51, 20476-20481 (2008)

K. Miyauchi, Y. Kim, O. Latinovic, V. Morozov and G. B. Melikian, HIV enters cells via endocytosis and dynamin-dependent fusion with endosomes, Cell, Volume 137, Issue 3, 433-444 (2009)

S. Latinovic, A. Heredia, Robert C. Gallo, Marv Reitz, Nhut Le and Robert R. Redfield, Low doses of the immunomodulatory drug Rapamycin decrease the anti-HIV effective dose of the CCR5 antagonist Aplaviroc: potential clinical implications, Antiviral Research, Volume 83, 86-89 (2009)
S. Latinovic, J. Kuruppu, C. Davis, N. Lee and A. Heredia, Pharmacotherapy of HIV-1 Infection: Focus on CCR5 antagonist Maraviroc, Review for Clinical Medicine: Therapeutics, Volume 1, 1497-1510 (2009)

S. Latinovic, L. A. Hough and H. D. Ou-Yang, Structural and Micromechanical Properties of Collagen Type I, the Journal of Biomechanics, Volume 43, Issue 3, 500-505 (2010)
S. Latinovic, M. Reitz, N. Le, J. S. Foulke, G. Fatkenheuer, C. Lehmann, H. Valdez, R. R. Redfield and A. Heredia, CCR5 antibodies HGS004 and HGS101 inhibit Maraviroc-resistant HIV-1 and Inhibition is more potent in the presence of Maraviroc: Clinical Implications, Virology, (2011)
S. Latinovic, N. Le, M. Reitz, R. Pal, A. DeVico, J. S. Foulke, R. R. Redfield and A. Heredia, Synergistic Inhibition of CCR5-tropic HIV-1 by Maraviroc and CCR5 Antibody HGS004 in Primary Cells: Potential Implications for Treatment and Prevention, AIDS, 1;25(9):1232-5 (2011)
S. Latinovic, K. Schneider, H. Szmacinski, J. R. Lakowicz, A. Heredia and R. R. Redfield, Binding of fusion protein FLSC IgG1 to CCR5 is enhanced by CCR5 antagonist Maraviroc, Antiviral Research, Volume 112: 80-90 (2014)
S. Latinovic, S. Medina-Moreno, K. Schneider, N. Gohain, J. Zapata, M. Pazgier, M. Reitz, J. Bryant, R.R. Redfield, Full length single chain Fc protein (FLSC IgG1) as a potent anti-viral therapy candidate: Implications for in vivo studies, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses- Volume 31, Number 00, (2015)
S. Latinovicand R.R. Redfield, CCR5-Cellular doorway for HIV-1 Entry. Review for Journal for Human Virology and Retrovirology. 2(5):00056, (2015).
S. Latinovic, J. Zhang, Y. Tagaya, A. L. DeVico, T. Fouts, K. Schneider, J. Lakowicz, A. Heredia and R. R. Redfield, Synergistic inhibition of R5 HIV-1 by Maraviroc and FLSC IgG in primary cells: Implications for prevention and treatment- Current HIV Research, PMID: 26354735, Vol 14, Issue 1, (2016)

N. Jha, O. S. Latinovic, E. Martin, G. Novitskiy, M, Marin, K. Miyauchi, J. Naughton, J. A. T. Young and G.B. Melikyan, Imaging single retrovirus entry through alternative receptor isoforms and intermediate virus-cell fusion, PloS Pathogens, Volume 7, Issue 1, 1001260 (2011)

F. Cocchi, A. L. DeVico, W. Lu, M. Popovic, O. S. Latinovic, M. M. Sajadi, R. R. Redfield, M. K. Lafferty, M. Galli, A. Garzino-Demo and R. C. Gallo, The Soluble Factors from T Cells Inhibiting X4 Strains of HIV are a Mixture of Beta Chemokines and RNases, Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, PMID: 22431590, (2012)

F. Obata, P. B. Subrahmanyam, A. E. Vozenilek, L. M. Hippler, T. Jeffers, M. Tongsuk, I. Tiper, P. Saha, D. M. Jandhyala,G. L. Kolling, O. S. Latinovic and T. J. Webb, Natural Killer T (NKT) cells accelerate Shiga toxin type 2 (Stx2) pathology in mice, Frontiers in Microbiology, section Infectious Diseases, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00262, (2015)

F. Obata, L. M. Hippler, P. Saha, D. M. Jandhyala and O. S. Latinovic, Shiga toxin type-2 (Stx2) induces glutamate release via phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway in murine neurons, Frontiers of Molecular Neuroscience, ISSN: 1662-5099 (2015)

D. Basta, O. S. Latinovic, M. K. Lafferty, L. Sun, J. Bryant, A. Caruso, R. Gallo, A. Garzino-Demo. Angiogenic, lymphoangiogenic and adipogenic effects of HIV-1 Matrix protein p17 Ugandan variant. Pathogens and Diseases DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femspd/ftv062 (2015)

A. Heredia, O.S. Latinovic, F. Barbault, E. P. H. deLeeuw. A Novel Small Molecule Inhibitor of HIV Entry. Drug Design. Development and Therapy. Vol 9, 1-10 (2015)

S. Latinovic,S. Medina-Moreno, L.M. Hippler, J.C. Zapata and R.R. Redfield, Humanized NSG Mouse Models of HIV-1 Infection and Pathogenesis, Review for Journal for Human Virology and Retrovirology, 3 (2): 00087, (2016)
S. Latinovic, S. Medina-Moreno, K. Schneider, N. Gohain, J. Zapata, L.M. Hippler, Y. Tagaya, M. Pazgier, M. Reitz, J. Bryant, R.R. Redfield, Full length single chain Fc protein (FLSC IgG1) as a potent anti-viral therapy candidate: Implications for in vivo studies, World Biomedical Frontiers,ISSN: 2328-0166, section of Infection and Immunity (2016)

Curreli S, Wong BS*, Latinovic OS*, Konstantopoulos K, Stamatos NM, Class 3 semaphorins induce F-actin reorganization in human dendritic cells: Role in cell migration, J Leukoc Biol. . pii: jlb.2A1114-534R. (2016)

S. Latinovic, M. Reitz, A. Heredia, CCR5 Inhibitors and HIV-1 Infection, Journal of AIDS, Vol 1, Issue 1 (2018)
S. Latinovic, S. Medina-Moreno, K. Schneider, N. Gohain, J. Zapata, L.M. Hippler, Y. Tagaya, M. Pazgier, M. Reitz, J. Bryant, R.R. Redfield, Full length single chain Fc protein (FLSC IgG1) as a potent anti-viral therapy candidate: Implications for in vivo studies, World Biomedical Frontiers, ISSN: 2328-0166, section of Infection and Immunity (2016)
S. Latinovic, L. M. Neal, A. Heredia, Y. Tagaya, S. Medina-Moreno, J. C. Zapata, M. Reitz, J. Bryant, R. R. Redfield, Suppression of Active and Persistent HIV-1 Infection in CD34+ Hematopoietic Humanized Mice by Combination of Long Acting cART Therapy and CCR5 Targeting Drugs, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, doi: 10.1089/AID.2018.0305. (2019).

D. Zella, S. Curreli, F. Benedetti, S. Krishnan, F. Cocchi, O. S. Latinovic, F. Denaro, F. Romerio, M. Djavani, M.E. Charurat, J. L. Bryant, Tettelin H., and R.C. Gallo, Mycoplasma promotes malignant transformation in vivo and its DnaK has broad oncogenic properties, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115( 51):E12005-E12014 pii: 201815660. (2018)

Yan Zhang, Xuexiang Du, Mingyue Liu, Fei Tang, Peng Zhang, Chunxia Ai, James Fields, Eric Sundberg, O. S. Latinovic, Martin Devenport, Pan Zheng and Yang Liu, Lysosomal CTLA-4 Degradation Causes Immunotherapy-related Adverse Effect and Restrains Immunotherapeutic Efficacy of Anti-human CTLA-4 Antibodies, Cell Research, doi: doi.org/10.1038/s41422-019-0184-1. (2019)

Y. Affram, J. Zapata, W. Tolbert, W. Zhou, M. Iglesias-Ussel, M. Pazgier, K. Ray, O. S. Latinovic, and F. Romerio, The HIV-1 antisense protein ASP is an integral protein of the viral envelope, Journal of Virology, pii: JVI.00574-19. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00574-19 (2019)

Benedetti F., Cocchi F., Latinovic O. S., Curreli S., Krishnan S., Munawwar A., Gallo R.C., Zella D., Role of Mycoplasma Shaperone DnaK in Cellular Transformation, Int Journal of Mol Sci, 21 (4). doi: 10.3390/ijms21041311. (2020)

Turri V., Latinovic O.S., Bonafè M., Toyang N., Parigi M., Calassanzio M., Martelli P.L., Vagheggini A., Abbati G., Sarnelli A., Casadio R., Ratti C., Massi P., Schoelz J.E., Salvato M.S., Piccinini F., Martinelli G., Cauliflower mosaic virus proteins in human glioblastoma cells: Cytoplasmic and nuclear expression, BioMed Research International, doi: 10.1155/2020/7465242. eCollection (2020)

Weichseldorfer M, Heredia A, Reitz M, Bryant J.L. and Latinovic O.S., Use of Humanized Mouse Models for Studying HIV-1 Infection, Pathogenesis and Persistence, J AIDS and HIV Treatment, Volume 2, Issue 1, (2020)

Weichseldorfer M, Affram Y, Heredia A, Tagaya Y, Benedetti F, Zella D, Reitz M, Romerio F. and Latinovic O.S. Anti-HIV Activity of Standard cART in Primary Cells Is Intensified by CCR5-Targeting Drugs, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, PMID: 32623916 DOI: 10.1089/AID.2020.0064 (2020)

Daniele Basta and O. S. Latinovic. The Potential Detrimental Role of High Salt Diet in Promoting Exaggerated Th-17 Responses in COVID-19 Patients, an Intriguing Hypothesis. Journal of Clinical Lab Medicine. 5 (1) https://doi.org/10.16966/2572-9578.135 (2020)

Weichseldorfer, M., Tagaya, Y., Reitz, M., DeVico A. L. & Latinovic, O. S. Identifying CCR5 coreceptor populations permissive for HIV-1 entry and productive infection: Implications for In Vivo Studies. Journal of Translational Medicine, 20:39. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-022-03243-8. (2022)

* Co-authorship

Research Interests