Skip to content
The Kids Research Institute Australia logo
Donate

Search

Protection against severe infant lower respiratory tract infections by immune training: Mechanistic studies

Results from recent clinical studies suggest potential efficacy of immune training (IT)-based approaches for protection against severe lower respiratory tract infections in infants, but underlying mechanisms are unclear.

Remission of peanut allergy is associated with rewiring of allergen-driven T helper 2-related gene networks

The immunological changes underpinning acquisition of remission (also called sustained unresponsiveness) following food immunotherapy remain poorly defined. Limited access to effective therapies and biosamples from treatment responders has prevented progress. Probiotic peanut oral immunotherapy is highly effective at inducing remission, providing an opportunity to investigate immune changes.

OPTIMUM study protocol: an adaptive randomised controlled trial of a mixed whole-cell/acellular pertussis vaccine schedule

Combination vaccines containing whole-cell pertussis antigens were phased out from the Australian national immunisation programme between 1997 and 1999 and replaced by the less reactogenic acellular pertussis (aP) antigens. In a large case-control study of Australian children born during the transition period, those with allergist diagnosed IgE-mediated food allergy were less likely to have received whole-cell vaccine in early infancy than matched population controls (OR: 0.77 (95% CI, 0.62 to 0.95)). We hypothesise that a single dose of whole-cell vaccine in early infancy is protective against IgE-mediated food allergy.

Transplacental Innate Immune Training via Maternal Microbial Exposure: Role of XBP1-ERN1 Axis in Dendritic Cell Precursor Programming

We recently reported that offspring of mice treated during pregnancy with the microbial-derived immunomodulator OM-85 manifest striking resistance to allergic airways inflammation, and localized the potential treatment target to fetal conventional dendritic cell (cDC) progenitors. Here, we profile maternal OM-85 treatment-associated transcriptomic signatures in fetal bone marrow, and identify a series of immunometabolic pathways which provide essential metabolites for accelerated myelopoiesis.

Immune function during early adolescence positively predicts adult facial sexual dimorphism in both men and women

Our results support a fundamental assumption that facial sexual dimorphism is an indicator of immune function during the development of facial sexual dimorphism

Oestrogen amplifies pre-existing atopy-associated Th2 bias in an experimental asthma model

The role of oestrogen in experimental atopic asthma, and guide future research on sex-related variations in atopic asthma susceptibility/intensity

A method for the generation of large numbers of dendritic cells from CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells from cord blood

Neonatal dendritic cells generated form CD34+ cord blood progenitors have a higher inflammatory potential when exposed to viral than bacterial related stimuli

Single cell transcriptomics reveals cell type specific features of developmentally regulated responses to lipopolysaccharide between birth and 5 years

Human perinatal life is characterized by a period of extraordinary change during which newborns encounter abundant environmental stimuli and exposure to potential pathogens. To meet such challenges, the neonatal immune system is equipped with unique functional characteristics that adapt to changing conditions as development progresses across the early years of life, but the molecular characteristics of such adaptations remain poorly understood.

LPS binding protein and activation signatures are upregulated during asthma exacerbations in children

Asthma exacerbations in children are associated with respiratory viral infection and atopy, resulting in systemic immune activation and infiltration of immune cells into the airways. The gene networks driving the immune activation and subsequent migration of immune cells into the airways remains incompletely understood. Cellular and molecular profiling of PBMC was employed on paired samples obtained from atopic asthmatic children during acute virus-associated exacerbations and later during convalescence.

Maternal diet modulates the infant microbiome and intestinal Flt3L necessary for dendritic cell development and immunity to respiratory infection

Poor maternal diet during pregnancy is a risk factor for severe lower respiratory infections in the offspring, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that in mice a maternal low-fiber diet led to enhanced LRI severity in infants because of delayed plasmacytoid dendritic cell recruitment and perturbation of regulatory T cell expansion in the lungs.