Tulane University COVID Antibody and Immunity Network (TUCAIN)

CD 4 + T细胞和B细胞对于产生针对大多数病原体的高亲和力抗体至关重要，而抗原呈递细胞如树突状细胞和巨噬细胞对于将抗原递送至淋巴结以产生长寿命的细胞和体液免疫至关重要。由于免疫功能低下的个体通常在一个或多个免疫细胞群中存在缺陷或异常，我们假设对不同细胞区室（例如，多发性骨髓瘤中的浆细胞; HIV感染者中的CD 4 + T细胞;慢性淋巴细胞白血病中的淋巴细胞）将能够确定特定免疫细胞类型在产生针对SARS-CoV-2的持久保护性免疫中的作用。此外，这些比较分析可能进一步确定不同免疫功能低下人群中SARS-CoV-2免疫力的特定差距，这些差距可能与治疗方法互补。通过我们资助的U 54父母补助金，我们已经建立了几个免疫功能低下人群的队列，包括艾滋病毒感染者和各种血液和实体瘤恶性肿瘤患者。此外，我们还开发了一个全面的免疫分析平台，该平台集成了细胞和体液免疫的测量，使我们能够在多个免疫功能低下的患者人群中进行细胞和体液免疫的比较分析。

CD4+ T cells and B cells are critical to generate high-affinity antibodies against most pathogens, and antigen-presenting cells such as dendritic cells and macrophage are essential in delivering antigen to the lymph nodes to generate long-lived cellular and humoral immunity. As immunocompromised individuals often have deficiencies or abnormalities in one or more immune cell populations, we hypothesize that analysis of immunocompromised patients with deficiencies/abnormalities in distinct cellular compartments (eg. plasma cells in multiple myeloma; CD4+ T cells in people living with HIV; lymphocytes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia) will be able to define the role of a given immune cell type on generation of durable protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, these comparative analyses may further identify specific gaps in SARS-CoV-2 immunity within different immunocompromised populations that may be complemented with therapies. Through our funded U54 parent grant, we have established several cohorts of immunocompromised populations, including people living with HIV and patients with various hematologic and solid tumor cancer malignancies. In addition, we have developed a comprehensive immune analysis platform that integrates measures of cellular and humoral immunity that will allow us to perform comparative analyses of cellular and humoral immunity across multiple immunocompromised patient populations.