Why it matters? Bird flu/avian influenza represents one of the greatest threats of pandemic potential pathogens. Establishing highly effective vaccination programs and understanding correlates of protection **before** a large-scale human outbreak can limit disease burden. (4/4)

In the lower respiratory tract, neutralizing and non-neutralizing antibodies against H5 coordinated the protective network. IgA appeared to play a larger role in protection at the mucosa. Importantly, delivering the vaccine to the mucosa stimulated IgA and T cell responses on-site. (3/4)

What we found: vaccination intramuscularly or with an Adeno-based vaccine delivered to the mucosa protects against lethal bird flu challenge. This protection against the highly pathogenic and pandemic-potential pathogen was through antibodies forming compartmentalized protection networks. (2/4)

That's fantastic! Congratulations!

Wait, where is this epic Stop-n-Shop?

Our results show that a single dose vaccine against RSV can stimulate strongly activating antibody responses in those at enhanced risk of RSV-associated pneumonia. #RSV #vaccine #pneumonia

A booster dose at 1 year did not significantly bolster these antibody responses against RSV. This is in alignment with other studies showing that RSV vaccines can elicit durable antibody responses, but subsequent booster doses often yield low responses.

These antibody responses funneled to neutrophil phagocytosis signaling and were stronger for RSV-A. The overall antibody profile remained strongly linked 1 year after a single dose of the Ad + soluble F vaccine.

This publication was a collaborative effort between D. Barouch's lab at Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Bioqual Laboratories, and my lab. #vaccine #influenza #PublicHealth

We also find that correlates of flu protection work as networks & are shaped by the anatomical site. In the upper respiratory tract, NAb play a protective role against viral loads, but they do not act alone. They are part of a broader network linked to other antibody functions mostly via IgG & IgA

We find that changing the influenza vaccine platform and delivering the vaccine directly into the lower respiratory tract bolsters protection against viral loads in non-human primates. This virus replication control was in both upper and lower respiratory tracts.

These auto-reactive antibodies were elevated in individuals who carried an allele linked to higher risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). The antibodies were potently complement fixing.

Our work adds to the growing body of evidence linking EBV to MS through immune dysregulation.

We show that young adults who had acute infectious mononucleosis developed antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) protein EBNA-1 that were strongly cross-reactive with self proteins. This was through a peptide region on EBNA-1 that shares similarities with the human protein CRYAB.

Lol, forgot to add the link:
hsph.harvard.edu/research/mcn...