Determining the development of natural immunity against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in women of childbearing age and children born between March 2020 and May 2021 in the context of limited RSV exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic - a prospectiv

2019冠状病毒病大流行提供了一个独特的机会来研究在没有RSV暴露后的人群水平RSV免疫力。在由BC儿童医院研究所（BC）的Frederic Reicherz博士领导的一项研究中，我们报道了育龄期妇女RSV抗体介导的中和反应相应减少与2020年5月至7月相比，2021年4月至6月，51岁以下的婴儿和在大流行期间出生的婴儿（两岁以下）的死亡率分别为20%和20%。这些结果表明，这些婴儿对RSV免疫学初治，成人对RSV的体液免疫需要反复病毒暴露。出生于有限的RSV暴露背景下，该RSV初治婴儿队列为具有广泛免疫学视角的前瞻性纵向随访研究提供了难得的机会。因此，本研究旨在研究如何在成年人（育龄妇女）中恢复针对RSV的功能性免疫，并在儿童中发展，特别是在COVID-19大流行期间出生的儿童（2020年3月31日之后出生），使用系统血清学和多维流式细胞术的组合来分析RSV的抗体应答和B细胞成熟。这项研究可能有助于更好地理解保护的相关性如何成为未来候选疫苗的指南，以及那些处于最高风险的人的疫苗分布。

The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to study population-level RSV immunity following an absence of RSV exposure. In a study led by Dr. Frederic Reicherz at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) [Journal of infectious diseases], we reported a corresponding reduction in RSV antibody-mediated neutralization in women of childbearing age (less than 51 years of age) and children born during the pandemic (less than two years of age) a year into the pandemic (April-June 2021) compared to May-July 2020 . These findings suggest that these infants were immunological naïve to RSV and that humoral immunity against RSV requires repeated viral exposure in adults. Born in the context of limited RSV exposure, this cohort of RSV-naïve infants offers the rare chance for a prospective longitudinal follow-up study with an extensive immunological perspective. Thus, this study aims to examine how functional immunity against RSV will be restored in adults (women of reproductive age) and develops in children, specifically those born during the COVID-19 pandemic (born after March 31st, 2020), using a combination of systems serology and multidimensional flow cytometry to profile antibody responses and B-cell maturation to RSV. This study might help better understand how correlates of protection can be a gudiance for future vaccine candidates and vaccine distrubition for those who are at highest risk.