Vaccine to Improve Immune System in Newborns

University of Missouri researchers are working on a vaccine to improve infants’ immune systems, which are susceptible to diseases and infections such as jaundice and E. coli, right after birth. The researchers have identified a group of depleted white blood cells that might lead to an immune-strengthening vaccine.

Specifically, they have found that newborns have an imbalance of two different groups of T-helper cells (TH cells),which are white blood cells and the main fighters in the immune system. Newborns have a large amount of TH2 cells, a group of white blood cells that mediates allergic reactions, but not enough TH1 cells, a group of white blood cells that fights infections. Environmental factors also affect the imbalance of these two groups of T-helper cells. The first time newborns are exposed to an antigen (a foreign substance that illicits a response in the immune system), their white blood cells are balanced. But, the second time they are exposed to the antigen, they create too much of the TH2 cells and not enough of the TH1 cells. This imbalance is what leads to possible infection and allergic reaction.

“What’s happening is that the TH2 cells are killing the TH1 cells, creating the imbalance,” Christine Hoeman, doctoral student in the University of Missouri School of Medicine, explains. “Once we know more about the timeline of the imbalance, we can start to develop the vaccine, which would increase the levels of TH1 and would ideally be administered in newborns soon after they’re born.”

The research was published in both the Journal of Environmental Medicine and Trends in Immunology.