Accurate assessment of SARS-CoV-2 immunity is critical to evaluating vaccine efficacy and devising public health policies. Whilst the exact nature of effective immunity remains incompletely defined, SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses are a critical feature that will likely form a key correlate of protection against COVID-19. Here, we developed and optimised a high-throughput whole blood-based assay to determine the T cell response associated with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or vaccination a...
T helper 17 (Th17) cells have a pathogenic effect in many autoimmune diseases. Inhibition of Th17 cells can alleviate the inflammatory damage in autoimmune diseases. Our previous study found that microRNA-590-3p (miR-590-3p) was involved in the differentiation of Th17 cells in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Here, we demonstrated that an increase in Th17 cells was correlated with low expression of miR-590-3p in patients with SLE and in lupus mice. Upregulation of miR-590-3p reduced the diffe...
Optimal immunogenicity from nucleic acid vaccines requires a balance of antigen expression that effectively engages the host immune system without generating a cellular response that rapidly destroys cells producing the antigen and thereby limiting vaccine antigen expression. We investigated the role of the cellular response on the expression and antigenicity of DNA vaccines using a plasmid DNA construct expressing luciferase. Repeated intramuscular administration led to diminished luciferase ex...
#2Avril Walters(UCT: University of Cape Town)H-Index: 1
Last. Roanne Keeton(UCT: University of Cape Town)H-Index: 8
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Tuberculosis (TB) and malaria remain serious threats to global health. Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG), the only licensed vaccine against TB protects against severe disseminated forms of TB in infants but shows poor efficacy against pulmonary TB in adults. Coinfections have been reported as one of the factors implicated in vaccine inefficacy. Given the geographical overlap of malaria and TB in areas where BCG vaccination is routinely administered, we hypothesised that virulence dependent co-infec...
COVID-19 disease is the manifestation of Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, which is causing a worldwide pandemic. This disease can lead to multiple and different symptoms, being lymphopenia associated with severity one of the most persistent. Natural Killer cells (NK cells) are part of the innate immune system, being fighting against virus-infected cells one of their key roles. In this study, we determined the phenotype of NK cells after COVID-19 and the main characteristic of SARS-...
Monocytes play a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis and mediating a successful innate immune response. They also act as central players in diverse pathological conditions, thus making them an attractive therapeutic target. Within the bone marrow, monocytes arise from a committed precursor termed cMoP (Common Monocyte Progenitor). However, molecular mechanisms that regulate the differentiation of cMoP to various monocytic subsets remain unclear. Herein, we purified murine myeloid precursors ...
Last. Adam Balic(University of Edinburgh)H-Index: 23
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Conventional dendritic cells (cDC) are bone marrow-derived immune cells that play a central role in linking innate and adaptive immunity. cDCs efficiently uptake, process and present antigen to naive T cells, driving clonal expansion of antigen-specific T-cell responses. In chicken, vital reagents are lacking for the efficient and precise identification of cDCs. In this study, we have developed several novel reagents for the identification and characterization of chicken cDCs. Chicken FLT3 cDNA ...
Although sepsis in burn patients is a major contributor to mortality, treatments are not always effective and underlying mechanisms have yet to be completely elucidated. NLRP3 inflammasome orchestrates burn-induced, inflammatory-driven pathophysiologic processes. Here, we determined the mechanism of NLRP3 inflammasome activation on bacterial clearance and mortality in burn sepsis. We obtained tissue and blood from 30 wild-type and 30 Nlrp3-/- mice. Mice were subjected to a two-hit model of 25-30...
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