St. Jude scientists setting the standard in RSV research
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital shared a post on LinkedIn:
“St. Jude scientists setting the standard in RSV research.
Combating infectious diseases begins by understanding immune system development in the early stages of life. This is a critical step in developing novel interventions against these infections.
Octavio Ramilo, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Department of Infectious Diseases chair, and Asuncion Mejias, a member in the Department, share a vision to map the formative years of the immune system at a holistic level.
By age two, most children will contract respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). While most cases are mild, many still become severe. Only malaria represents a greater threat to infants in resource-limited countries.
Published recently in Immunity, Ramilo and Mejias studied the window of vulnerability when children are most susceptible to the virus.
They identified distinct age-dependent antibody responses that correlate with disease severity. This provides potential new targets for RSV vaccine development, guiding the design of future clinical trials.
The researchers used systems serology, an innovative approach that allowed the researchers to explore the intricacies of RSV immune response without needing to isolate any element.
‘We need to look across the board at different vaccines and viral infections,’ said Ramilo.
‘Events in the first two years of life shape your long-term health. This approach offers tremendous possibilities to understand how viral infections and immune responses affect immune development but also has long-term consequences for vaccine development.’
‘Immune response in infants is not just influenced by the specific virus causing the infection, in this case RSV,’ Mejias explained. ‘Previous exposures to other viruses, the microbiome, or the presence of maternal antibodies, all combine with other factors such as smoke exposure or the size of the airway to contribute to disease severity.’
Ramilo and Mejias intend to continue their holistic approach to exploring immune system development at St. Jude.
Read more in Immunity.”