Project description:We performed systems analyses of immune responses to the meningococcal polysaccharide (MPSV4) and conjugate (MCV4) vaccines in healthy adults. The goal was to identify innate gene signatures that correlate to antibody responses induced by these vaccines.
Project description:Secondary bacterial pneumonia following influenza infection is a significant cause of mortality worldwide. Upper respiratory tract pneumococcal carriage is important as both determinants of disease and population transmission. The immunological mechanisms that contain pneumococcal carriage are well-studied in mice but remain unclear in humans. Loss of this control of carriage following influenza infection is associated with secondary bacterial pneumonia during seasonal and pandemic outbreaks. We used a human type 6B pneumococcal challenge model to show that carriage acquisition induces early degranulation of resident neutrophils and recruitment of monocytes to the nose. Monocyte function associated with clearance of pneumococcal carriage. Prior nasal infection with live attenuated influenza virus induced inflammation, impaired innate function and altered genome-wide nasal gene responses to pneumococcal carriage. Levels of the cytokine IP-10 promoted by viral infection at the time of pneumococcal encounter was positively associated with bacterial density. These findings provide novel insights in nasal immunity to pneumococcus and viral-bacterial interactions during co-infection.
Project description:The aims of the present study were to investigate the inflammatory responses in various organs as compared with the systemic circulation in an experimental porcine model of meningococcal sepsis using wild-type N. meningitidis; to study the role of LPS versus non-LPS microbial molecules as triggers of organ inflammation in meningococcal sepsis
Project description:Meningococcal strains from different serogroups and different clonal complexes were compared using cGH analyses in a one color experiment.
