Do innate-like B cell responses contribute to neonatal immunity?

人体通过其免疫系统保护自己免受感染。我们不完全了解新生儿(无论是足月出生的还是早产的)免疫系统是如何工作的，但我们确实知道，感染在这一脆弱的患者群体中很常见，它们往往会导致严重的疾病和死亡。更好地了解这个系统从出生起是如何发挥作用的，可能会通过开发增强免疫反应的方法来为未来的临床实践提供信息，从而保护婴儿。我们已经确定，T细胞是一种帮助保护身体免受感染的白细胞，它在新生儿中的表现非常不同。我们现在已经确定，第二种类型的白细胞，即B细胞，通过制造抗体来帮助保护身体，在人类婴儿中也以不同的形式存在。在这项提议中，我们想要仔细研究这种在新生儿中增强的B细胞群体的生物学，并确定它在保护婴儿免受感染方面的作用。我们已经采集了早产儿的血液(在其父母允许的情况下，当时正在进行常规护理)，并从健康的婴儿和感染期间的婴儿身上采集了样本。这一独特的资源将使我们能够研究新生儿健康和疾病中的外周免疫系统，并观察这些B细胞在早产儿中的反应。我们可以通过查看脐带血样本将其与足月出生的婴儿进行比较。我们还将调查这些B细胞发育成什么，它们制造什么类型的抗体，以及它们的优势何时开始下降。我们将通过观察从1个月和3个月大的婴儿身上采集的血液样本来实现这一点。这可能提供一个潜在的治疗目标，以增强新生儿免疫系统，并最终降低感染的发病率和死亡率。

The body protects itself from infection via its immune system. We do not completely understand how the immune system works in newborns (either those born at term or prematurely) but we do know that infections are common in this vulnerable patient group and that they can often result in severe illness and death. A better understanding of how this system functions from birth may inform future clinical practice by developing methods to boost the immune response and thereby protect babies. We have already established that T cells, one type of white blood cell that helps protect the body from infection, behave very differently in neonates. We have now identified that a second type of white blood cell, the B cell, that helps protect the body by making antibodies, also exist in different forms in human infants.In this proposal, we want to scrutinise the biology of this B cell population that is enhanced in neonates and determine its role in protecting babies from infection. We have already collected blood from preterm babies (with their parent's permission and at a time when blood was being taken for routine care) and have samples from babies who were well and from babies during periods of infection. This unique resource will allow us to study the peripheral immune system in neonatal health and disease and look at how these B cells respond in preterm infants. We can compare this to babies born at term by looking in cord blood samples. We will also investigate what these B cells develop into, what type of antibodies they make, and when their predominance starts to decline. We will do this by looking in blood samples taken from babies at 1 and 3 months of age. This may potentially provide a therapeutic target to enhance the neonatal immune system and ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality from infection.