Immunity to the bacterial flora of the upper respiratory tract
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Use of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to characterise the systemic innate and adaptive immune response to members of the upper respiratory tract bacterial flora
IRAS ID
178906
Contact name
Robert C Read
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The human throat is colonised by many different species of bacteria, many of which colonise for long periods of time and colonise repeatedly throughout a person's lifetime. Whilst colonisation is normally harmless, some species such as Neisseria meningitis and Streptococcus pneumonia occasionally cause potentially lethal disease, including meningitis. A number of successful vaccines have been developed to immunise individuals against these bacteria, but they do not target all strains. Therefore, there is a need for improved vaccines that target all disease-causing strains of bacteria. However, it is still unknown which type of immune response is required to protect an individual from bacterial colonisation. More information is known regarding the immune responses required to protect against bacterial colonisation in mice, but it is unknown how much the data from such studies can be translated to humans. We therefore aim to use human leukocytes derived from blood taken during the course of normal adult donation to the NHS blood transfusion service to characterise the immune response to a number of bacterial species that colonise the human throat. As the majority of adults will have been repeatedly exposed to the bacterial species we are interested in as a result of natural carriage, we expect to be able to characterise protective memory responses within the leukocyte population. This will provide information on how these bacteria interact with the immune system, informing the design of better vaccines to protect against them.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0695
Date of REC Opinion
9 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion