Determining the development of natural immunity against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in women of childbearing age and children born between March 2020 and May 2021 in the context of limited RSV exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic - a prospective 3-year longitudinal cohort study

• Applicant: Dr. Frederic Reicherz
• Subject Area: Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 441616475

The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to study population-level RSV immunity following an absence of RSV exposure. In a study led by Dr. Frederic Reicherz at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) [Journal of infectious diseases], we reported a corresponding reduction in RSV antibody-mediated neutralization in women of childbearing age (less than 51 years of age) and children born during the pandemic (less than two years of age) a year into the pandemic (April-June 2021) compared to May-July 2020 . These findings suggest that these infants were immunological naïve to RSV and that humoral immunity against RSV requires repeated viral exposure in adults. Born in the context of limited RSV exposure, this cohort of RSV-naïve infants offers the rare chance for a prospective longitudinal follow-up study with an extensive immunological perspective. Thus, this study aims to examine how functional immunity against RSV will be restored in adults (women of reproductive age) and develops in children, specifically those born during the COVID-19 pandemic (born after March 31st, 2020), using a combination of systems serology and multidimensional flow cytometry to profile antibody responses and B-cell maturation to RSV. This study might help better understand how correlates of protection can be a gudiance for future vaccine candidates and vaccine distrubition for those who are at highest risk.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Canada
• Host: Professor Dr. Pascal Lavoie, Ph.D.