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

身体通过免疫系统保护自己免受感染。我们并不完全了解新生儿（无论是足月出生还是早产）的免疫系统是如何工作的，但我们知道感染在这个脆弱的患者群体中很常见，而且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的功能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，一种帮助保护身体免受感染的白色血细胞，在新生儿中的表现非常不同。我们现在已经发现，人类婴儿体内也存在另一种白色细胞，即B细胞，这种细胞通过制造抗体来帮助保护身体。在这项研究中，我们希望仔细研究新生儿体内增强的B细胞群的生物学特性，并确定其在保护婴儿免受感染方面的作用。我们已经从早产儿身上采集了血液（在他们父母的允许下，在血液被用于常规护理的时候），并从健康的婴儿和感染期间的婴儿身上采集了样本。这种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。我们可以通过观察脐带血样本来比较这一点与足月出生的婴儿。我们还将研究这些B细胞发育成什么，它们产生什么类型的抗体，以及它们的优势何时开始下降。我们将通过观察1个月和3个月大的婴儿的血液样本来做到这一点。这可能提供一个潜在的治疗靶点，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.