Immunity to respiratory pathogens and COVID-19-version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigation of mucosal immune responses to respiratory tract pathogens including SARS-CoV-2 and vaccines
IRAS ID
315231
Contact name
Qibo Zhang
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Surrey
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
COVID-19 pandemic is caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, and has been associated with over 6 millions death so far. Despite COVID-19 vaccination that reduces numbers of severe COVID-19 cases, it fails to prevent new infections in many people. Current infection rates in many countries including UK are very high and still lead to significant numbers of death. One of the main reasons for the failure of current vaccination (administered intramuscularly) to prevent infection is thought due to the lack of ability to induce local immunity in the nasopharynx. Intramuscularly injected vaccines produce antibodies mainly in the blood, few of which make it to nasopharynx where the initial infection takes place. Understanding mucosal immunity in nasopharynx to SARS-CoV-2 and developing intranasal vaccines would offer a more effective strategy against infection. In addition, with the high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the population, there is likely substantial interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and other common pathogens in the nasopharynx. It is yet unclear what impact of COVID-19 may have on immunity to other pathogens in the nasopharynx. Several key human pathogens that infect nasopharynx including S. pneumoniae, RSV and influenza virus cause substantial morbidity and mortality. The search for effective new vaccines against these pathogens is a priority.
Tonsillar tissues are immune organs located at the nasopharynx - entry site of respiratory pathogens. Using immune cells from these tissues, we can study how these tissues work to fight against infection, therefore to inform us design more effective vaccines. We have established a very useful cell culture system to study immunity to pathogens/ vaccines. In this project, we will study the immune responses in adenotonsillar cells to the human pathogens and vaccines in individuals with or without prior COVID-19, so to predict the efficacy of the new vaccines in humans against these serious infections.REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
22/NS/0092
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jul 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion