Improved Childhood Vaccination and Preparedness Against Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza: Prospects for Cellular Immunity, 2017

Immune responses against influenza infection are mediated by influenza specific antibodies (measured as HI titres), while increasing evidence points to an important role of T cell (CD4; T helper cells and CD8; T cytotoxic cells) mediated immunity (CMI) in reducing disease severity. CMI targets conserved antigens of the influenza virus, and therefore provides immunity against multiple strains, whereas antibodies, which are directed against the variable antigens of the virus, are only effective against one specific strain. Defining new immune responses that correlate to protection is crucial for universal vaccine development. Using bioinformatic tools, we will characterize unique human biobank material to identify conserved and cross-reactive T cell epitopes (universal biomarkers), including material from: 1)vaccine trials of seasonal or experimental vaccines, 2)pregnant women and their offspring during the 2009 pandemic, and 3)unvaccinated Ethiopian children. For more information and data availability, visit: http://www.fhi.no/forskning-og-data/datatilgang针对流感感染的免疫应答由流感特异性抗体介导，此类抗体以血凝抑制（HI）抗体滴度作为检测指标。越来越多的研究证据表明，T细胞（CD4阳性辅助T细胞与CD8阳性细胞毒性T细胞）介导的细胞免疫（CMI）在降低疾病严重程度方面发挥着关键作用。细胞介导免疫靶向流感病毒的保守抗原，因此可提供针对多种流感毒株的免疫保护；而靶向病毒可变抗原的抗体仅对单一特定毒株有效。明确与免疫保护相关的新型免疫应答机制，对于通用疫苗的研发至关重要。本研究将借助生物信息学工具，对独特的人类生物样本库材料进行表征分析，以鉴定保守且具有交叉反应性的T细胞表位（通用生物标志物），所用样本来源包括：1）季节性疫苗或实验性疫苗的临床试验样本；2）2009年流感大流行期间的孕妇及其子代样本；3）未接种疫苗的埃塞俄比亚儿童样本。如需了解更多信息及数据获取方式，请访问：http://www.fhi.no/forskning-og-data/datatilgang