Immune responses to streptococcus pneumoniae in Northern Territory children with bronchiectasis
Our previous studies of bronchiectasis in Northern Territory children have found that lower respiratory infection with S. pneumoniae likely plays a role in the pathogenesis of bronchiectasis. Furthermore, despite a comprehensive vaccination strategy against pneumococcal disease in the Northern Territory, our studies have identified several vaccine types of S. pneumoniae associated with lower respiratory infection.
Based on these collective data, the overall aim of this study is to determine if, compared with healthy control children, Northern Territory children with bronchiectasis have a suboptimal cell-mediated adaptive immune response to S. pneumoniae.
Secondly we aim to determine if the host cell-mediated immune response contributes to the propensity for vaccine pneumococcal serotypes to cause respiratory infection in children with bronchiectasis.
Hypothesis:
- Compared with healthy control children, blood mononuclear cells from children with bronchiectasis will have suboptimal Th17 and Th1 responses to vaccine types of S. pneumoniae in vitro.
- Compared with vaccine pneumococcal serotypes associated primarily with mucosal carriage, vaccine serotypes associated with lower respiratory infection will induce suboptimal Th17 and Th1 responses in vitro.