Lindberg, G. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2024

Maternal immunity protects offspring from enteric viral infection without negatively affecting humoral immune memory

Mother-to-offspring transfer of antibodies protects newborns during the critical phase of early life, preventing both infection and inflammation. Whether and how pre-existing passive immunity actively shapes immune memory formation in neonates remains unclear. Using a murine neonatal Rotavirus infection model in combination with cross-foster approaches and genetic models, we disentangled the contribution of maternal IgA and IgG to neonatal immune outcomes. While breastmilk antigen specific IgA is responsible for protection from Rotavirus infection, antigen specific IgG delays pup-intrinsic humoral immune induction to after weaning. Importantly, pre-existing maternal immunity delays and constrains, rather than ablates, long term humoral immunity. Together, our data move beyond a binary view of passive immunity as protective versus inhibitory, providing a more nuanced understanding in which breastmilk antibodies actively program the neonatal response for optimal immediate protection and long-term immune education in the growing organism.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Advancing childhood cancer research through young investigator and advocate collaboration

Cancer advocates and researchers share the same goal of driving science forward to create new therapies to cure more patients. The power of combining cancer researchers and advocates has become of increased importance due to their complementary expertise. Therefore, advocacy is a critical component of grant structures and has become embedded into the Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C) applications. To date, the optimal way to combine these skillsets and experiences to benefit the cancer community is currently unknown. The Saint Baldricks Foundation (SBF)-SU2C now called St. Baldricks Empowering Pediatric Immunotherapies for Childhood Cancer (EPICC) Team is comprised of a collaborative network across nine institutions in the United States and Canada. Since SU2C encourages incorporating advocacy into the team structure, we have assembled a diverse team of advocates and scientists by nominating a young investigator (YI) and advocate from each site. In order to further bridge this interaction beyond virtual monthly and yearly in person meetings, we have developed a questionnaire and conducted interviews. The questionnaire is focused on understanding each members experience at the intersection between science/advocacy, comparing to previous experiences, providing advice on incorporating advocacy into team science and discussing how we can build on our work. Through creating a YI and advocate infrastructure, we have cultivated a supportive environment for meaningful conversation that impacts the entire research team. We see this as a model for team science by combining expertise to drive innovation forward and positively impact pediatric cancer patients, and perhaps those with adult malignancies. SignificanceQuestionnaire results show both advocates and YIs see this structure to be valuable and beneficial. YIs communicated their research to a non-scientific audience and learned advocates experience. This was their first advocacy experience for most YIs. Advocates learned more about the research being conducted to provide hope. They can also aid with fundraising, publicity and lobbying. This collaboration improves science communication, designing patient-friendly clinical trials and sharing experience across institutions.

scientific communication and education↗