Juliana Barreto de Albuquerque, PhD

Respiratory infections continue to be a major global health threat. Although current vaccines can reduce disease severity and mortality, they are not entirely able to prevent transmission and infection. Tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM) cells are crucial in providing swift and strong responses against infections in barrier tissues. Improving vaccine strategies to induce TRM cells in the respiratory mucosa could help improve vaccine-induced protective immunity. While TRM cells in the lungs have been studied extensively, their formation and maintenance in nasal mucosa remains a critical area of investigation. Understanding how the immune response in the nose and lung contributes to protective immunity can improve our understanding of how the body protects itself from respiratory pathogens and help develop targeted interventions. Our goal is to better understand nasal immunity after vaccination and the role of the upper airway immune response in preventing the spread of viruses to the lower airways. The findings could lead to more effective vaccinations for respiratory pathogens.

Funded by the John Edebohls Catalyst Award

Update: Intranasal vaccines are designed to boost immune responses in the upper respiratory tract, where many infections start. In mice, we used small doses to target just the nose (URT) and larger doses to reach both the nose and lungs (TRT). Boosting the full respiratory tract led to the strongest CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses in both the nose and lungs. These T cells had a tissue-resident memory (TRM) profile and lasted longer in the nose. We found that all booster strategies provided protection against viral infection.