Mysha Iqbal
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Jessica O’Konek
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Mary H Weiser Food Allergy Center / Medicine
Program:
Authors:
Session: Session 4: 1:40 pm – 2:30 pm
Poster: 38
Abstract
The effects of alum-based vaccines on the developing immune system are still unknown. In order for a baby’s immune system to mature and reach a Th1/Th2 balance, external stimuli must be applied. While bacterial and viral infections usually lead to a Th1-polarized immune response, vaccination with alum induces a more Th2-polarized immune response. Administering alum vaccines in early life may change the maturation and imprinting of immune cells, which could affect how the immune system reacts to future exposures to new immunogens. Previous work has demonstrated that early life immunization with an alum vaccine resulted in changed responses to subsequent immunization with new vaccines (OVA MPLA). However, the effect of the site of immunization was not addressed. In this study, we explored if the HB-alum vaccine still influences the immune response to OVA-MPLA if the vaccines were given in the contralateral leg. We utilized ELISAs, Immunoassays, as well as harvesting techniques on the mice themselves to characterize the development of different IGg subclasses in the sera. We harvest the spleen and lymph nodes Cytokine production from the spleen and lymph nodes to identify the TH1/Th2 polarization of the immune response. So far, the project has no results yet as we are still conducting the experiment. However, we hypothesize that administering the HB-alum vaccine in the left or right leg results in similar changes, specifically a decrease in Th1 and an increase in Th2. This helps us better understand how vaccines shape immune development.
