Bou Ghanem Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2024

The role of neutrophils in the age-driven decline in anti-pneumococcal vaccine responses

ABSTRACT Despite the availability of vaccines, Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) infections in the elderly remain a health and economic burden in the USA. This calls for a better understanding of pathways driving immune dysregulation in aged hosts, reducing vaccine efficacy and rendering this population susceptible to infections. Our long-term goal is to elucidate the role of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) in the age- driven reduction in vaccine responses and increased susceptibility to S. pneumoniae infection. Background: A key immune cell following S. pneumoniae infection is PMN. PMNs are innate cells required for controlling bacterial numbers and whose function is known to…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.